u/aeranis

LAFD/City Officials keep reassuring citizens that the smoke is “not exotic” in makeup and “typical of a structure fire.”

But the Lineage facility was a cold storage warehouse, i.e. a giant fridge. That means the whole building envelope is packed with thick polyurethane/polyiso foam insulation. That foam is the main thing that has been smoldering for days.

Here’s the part I want people to be aware of: the ash.

Smoldering, low temperature, oxygen starved burning is the exact condition that maximizes the worst byproducts: hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and dioxins. Add the rooftop solar panels and PVC wiring into the mix and you get fluoride compounds and chlorinated dioxins on top of that.

When synthetic foam and plastics burn at low temperature with chlorine present, the residue is enriched with dioxins, which are fat soluble and persistent. The main exposure routes are breathing resuspended dust and hand to mouth contact, and dioxins can also be absorbed through skin to some degree with prolonged contact.

This is NOT the alkaline plant ash from a brush fire. TCDD, the most potent dioxin, is classified by the WHO/IARC as a known human carcinogen and is likely present in this ash in much higher concentrations than a typical wildfire. Eaton also released gnarly stuff, but it was a relatively quick burn-off, not days of the same smoldering polyiso insulation.

Ultimately, the detailed data on dioxins, VOCs, and heavy metals has not been released yet, so we won’t know exactly what this produced for weeks or months.

Some tips for anyone in the plume zone:

-Do not dry sweep or leaf blow ash. That throws it back into the air, which is the worst thing you can do. Mist it, then wipe with a damp cloth.

-Wear nitrile gloves and an N95 or P100 if you are cleaning any visible fallout. Wash exposed skin after.

-Keep it off shoes and out of the house. Bag it.

In the meantime, windows closed, HVAC on recirculate, run a HEPA if you have one. Wear a mask outside and try to keep kids and pets indoors as much as you can.

Stat safe, Angelenos, and call your representatives on Monday to demand answers.