Source: New York Post
Millions of Los Angeles residents were exposed to a toxic cocktail of lead and other dangerous metals during the devastating 2025 Eaton Fire, with lead concentrations soaring to 80 times normal levels, a new study has found. Researchers at Caltech published the findings Wednesday after comparing the chemical makeup of smoke from the inferno with that of a typical wildfire — and found the urban blaze unleashed a far more toxic mix. “Compared to wildfire smoke, the urban plume was enriched more than 50-fold in lead, 7-fold in halogens, and 3-fold in arsenic, a toxic mixture linked to burning vehicles, electronics, and building materials, a fundamentally different fuel from conventional wildland vegetation,” the research article said.
