
Putting dirty air on notice in the Palisades
A project by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health may help calm concerns over at least one other variable — the quality of the air in and near the burn zone.
Researchers at the university announced this week they had finished installing 20 air quality sensors to measure pollution, stretching from the Palisades Highlands and Sunset Mesa (near the Getty Villa) to Santa Monica.
The monitors sample the air every five to 10 minutes, checking for the kind of fine particles spewed out by fires and car exhausts, and the slightly larger dust-like particles that might be stirred up by debris removal.
Microscopic detritus in the air will continue to be a concern during the months of cleanup, grading and construction still to come. The level of crud in the air can increase when building sites get particularly active, or when winds increase, as they tend to in the fall.
UCLA translates the results into color-coded categories — from green for 'Good' to red for 'Hazardous' — and displays the results on an online dashboard.
Those concerned about air quality, but who want to avoid clicking on a digital map all day, can sign up to be alerted by email when particulate pollution reaches an unhealthy level in their neighborhood.
While the public previously may have relied on weather apps or sites like PurpleAir to get a sense of air quality, those often do not track the larger particles being measured by UCLA's monitoring stations.
Around the site of the Eaton fire in Altadena, Caltech began tracking particulate pollution at 28 locations not long after the fires and continues to provide data. Its sensors find that pollution levels are generally low and do not exceed limits established by the Environmental Protection Agency.
There's similar good news from the Palisades: Almost every day this week, the 20 monitors around the Westside showed mostly good air quality for both the fine and coarser particulate matter.
That's welcome information, especially for those who suffer from respiratory problems.
'Air quality can change frequently, like when there is construction or debris removal without adequate migration,' said Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health at UCLA and director of the project. 'The whole purpose of this dashboard is to give people information, as close to real-time as possible, so they can make decisions to help protect their health.'
Brian says, 'I cook food for him. Most recently ground turkey, a sweet potato, and some broth. This gets mixed in with his kidney friendly canned food. He is old and takes medication for his heart and thyroid along with the kidney diet.'
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
On July 24, 2023, Elon Musk began rebranding the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to its current identity, X. Since then, the site has introduced the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, which has prompted concern among experts for its record of spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories — especially during vulnerable periods like natural disasters.
Jim Rainey, staff writerDiamy Wang, homepage internIzzy Nunes, audience internKevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew Campa, Sunday writerKarim Doumar, head of newsletters
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