L.A. fires wreaked havoc on the land. Scientists are racing to learn what they’ve done to the sea
The charred and toxic remnants of thousands of destroyed homes, businesses, cars and electronics will eventually come to rest in the ocean. Ash from the fires has been detected 100 miles offshore. Public health officials have urged people to avoid several miles of beaches as recent rains wash contaminants into the sea. Unlike the smoke that emanates from rural wildfires, the charred material now entering the ocean is the stuff of “people’s homes: their cars, their batteries, their electronics,” said Rasmus Swalethorp, a biological oceanographer at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. “It’s certainly going to contain a lot of things that we ideally don’t want to see in our oceans — and in our soils, for that matter, and our water streams, and certainly not on our dinner plates.”
Other Los Angeles wildfire news:
- Heal the Bay: Blog: Heal the Bay’s post-fire water quality investigation
- ABC7: Understanding water safety notices: What returning residents need to know after wildfires
- Los Angeles Times: The L.A. wildfires left neighborhoods choking in ash and toxic air. Residents demand answers
- Los Angeles Times: Second round of rain heading to L.A. What will it take to end fire season?
- Yale Daily News: Climate change and mismanagement are altering California’s livelihood
