High levels of lead and mercury in firefighters who battled LA wildfires

A research team tested the blood of 20 firefighters called to battle the wildfires that devastated Los Angeles County earlier this year. The results found very high levels of lead and mercury – higher than those recorded in firefighters exposed to a forest fire. The tests are part of a longer-term study on the health impact of LA fires on those exposed to the toxins they released in the environment. The study is conducted by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, and other important research institutions. Dr. Kari Nadeau, chair of the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and one of the researchers working on the project, said the main concern is that some burned metals can get up in the air, entering through the lungs and the skin into the blood.
The group of 20 firefighters were tested just days after the fires were contained. They had worked for hours amid burning homes, cars, and businesses, being exposed to a still unknown list of chemicals and metals. According to Nadeau, they had lead and mercury levels three to five times higher than a group of firefighters fighting an isolated forest fire. Dave Gillotte, a captain with the Los Angeles County Fire Department and president of the Los Angeles County Firefighters Local 1014, said the results are “pretty alarming” and that it is likely firefighters who battled the fires will see significant health impacts in the future. He added that firefighters regularly risk exposure to chemicals and metals, but the scale of the LA fires meant prolonged and intense exposure to such substances in an urban setting, with electric vehicles, batteries, chemicals, and metals burning in high heat and mixing and spreading in the air through the wind. According to Gillotte, these types of urban fires can cause long-term health impacts for first responders like those seen after the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Researchers are looking to expand the number of firefighters involved in the study, as well as the list of toxic substances they may have been exposed to. Meanwhile, Los Angeles Fire Department Captain Kevin Frank expressed great concern for the health of his subordinates, revealing that several of them reported trouble breathing after fighting the fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.