Los Angeles Wildfires: Deputies Warned to Decontaminate over Toxic Air

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department sent an urgent message out to patrol cars Wednesday afternoon, warning deputies in Altadena that, after days of nearby wildfires, the air is so toxic they should wear masks and decontaminate their uniforms before stepping foot in their homes.

Sent at 4:35 p.m., the message began "Attn all personnel" and said that the Los Angeles County Fire Department's hazmat team reported the air in Altadena is "'hazardous, containing lead, asbestos and other harmful particulates."

In the all-caps lettering of the department's aging computer dispatch system, the message informed deputies that the hazmat team suggested wearing N95 masks while working in the area.

"Hazmat recommends decontaminating your uniform prior to entering your home," the message concluded.

The notification came a little more than a week after deputies first responded to reports of a wildfire in Eaton Canyon, which killed at least 16 people and chewed through thousands of homes, businesses and historic buildings in unincorporated Altadena and nearby Pasadena. The Eaton fire came so close to burning the sheriff's station on East Altadena Drive that deputies were forced to evacuate with whatever they could carry — guns, body cameras and mementos from the 1948 building.

After relocating to the nearby Crescenta Valley sheriff's station, deputies from Altadena and across the county flocked to the area for grueling days of 12-hour shifts. At first they helped with evacuations. They later turned to looter suppression.

The suggestion that the air around them could be toxic came as no surprise to several deputies who'd been working in the area.

"My eyes were burning and red," said one deputy who worked several shifts there in the days after the fire broke out. The deputy asked not be named, as he was not authorized to speak to media and feared retaliation.

Other deputies and department officials echoed those concerns, reporting coughs, red eyes and headaches.

Even in forested areas, wildfires create a wide array of pollutants, including toxic particulate matter that can lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing respiratory issues, cancer and other health problems.

But when blazes eat up urban areas and ravage buildings — such as the hardware store that burned, with its buckets full of paint and toxic chemicals — the smoke contains all sorts of other harmful particles, including the lead and asbestos that deputies were warned of in Wednesday's message.

Sheriff's Department officials said they've responded by making sure there are masks available for deputies to wear.

Richard Pippin, president of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, emphasized that deputies are still doing their jobs despite the difficult working conditions.

"Deputy sheriffs are highly aware of the hazardous conditions they are facing in these fire zones, including asbestos, lead and other harmful materials in the air they are breathing, and it hasn't deterred them from focusing on their mission protecting the lives and property of those affected by this tragedy," he told The Times, adding that the union has been in communication with Sheriff Robert Luna to talk about how to be better prepared for future incidents.

"The outpouring of support from the community has been tremendous and greatly appreciated by our deputies," he continued, "but our elected officials need to ensure that we are better staffed, equipped and trained moving forward, because it is sadly a certainty that there will be disasters of this and greater magnitude in the future."

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