Chemical composition of soil-associated ash from the southern California Thomas Fire and its potential inhalation risks to farmworkers
Abstract
The increasing frequency and severity of wildfires poses human health risks, especially for those within burnt regions. The potential health effects of fire ash on farmworkers in orchards via inhalation exposure after fire is rarely studied. After the 2017 Thomas Fire, in Ventura County (California, USA), fire ash and corresponding soil samples were collected from several impacted orchards and analyzed for eight trace elements (TEs) and 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Results indicate that except for mercury (Hg), the concentrations of TEs and PAHs were higher in ash samples compared with the corresponding soil samples. In general, ash samples showed greater potential to expose farmworkers to health risks than the corresponding soil samples. One site had particularly high concentrations of As (778 mg kg-1), Cr (629 mg kg-1), and Cu (499 mg kg-1) in the ash. This location corresponds to a house which was burned during the Thomas Fire, which might have contained chromated copper arsenate as a wood preservative. Therefore, the existence of construction materials in orchards could add hazardous materials to ash deposited on soil. Furthermore, a monitored dust generation experiment was designed to obtain the particle emission factors (PEF) of soil and ash, which is an essential parameter for the calculation of inhalation health risks. A two-fold difference in the PEFs was found between ash and the corresponding soil sample. Hence, health risks through inhalation exposure from fire ash may be underestimated if the default PEF suggested by the US Environmental Protection Agency is used.
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The effects of wildfire ash are wide-ranging, and its mobilization can pose a risk to human health, including respiratory problems through ash inhalation by firefighters, post-fire restoration teams, and the public nearby or downwind.
“The effects of wildfire ash are wide-ranging, and its mobilization can also pose a risk to human health.These include, for example, respiratory problems through ash inhalation by firefighters or post-fire restoration teams, and to the public nearby or downwind of active fires and recently burnt areas (e.g., Alexakis, 2020;Wan et al., 2021).”
From Chemical characteristics of wildfire ash across the globe and their environmental and socio-economic implications (2023) · cites this paper as Wan et al., 2021
Ash toxicity and the mobility of hazardous materials (including As, Cr, Cd) are especially elevated in fires in the wildland-urban interface that burn residential, commercial, and industrial infrastructure.
“Ash toxicity and the mobility of hazardous materials (including metals and metalloids like arsenic [As], chromium [Cr], and cadmium [Cd]) are specially elevated in fires in the wildland-urban interface that burn residential, commercial, and industrial infrastructure (Alshehri et al., 2022;Plumlee et al., 2014;Wan et al., 2021),”
From Chemical characteristics of wildfire ash across the globe and their environmental and socio-economic implications (2023) · cites this paper as Wan et al., 2021
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References 74 · Cited by 35
- Authors
- Wan, X., Li, C., & Parikh, S. J.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wan, Xiaoming
- Venue
- Journal of Environmental Management
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-01
- Volume
- 278
- Issue
- Pt 2
- Pages
- 111570
- ISSN
- 0301-4797 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3095167829
- Semantic Scholar
- d03b5ee0191ad9d5d606c323dd8f169a8b193a62
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 1.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Environmental Management (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Chinese Government Scholarship
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Heavy metals in environment
- Keywords
- wildfire ash, Thomas Fire, farm workers, inhalation exposure, trace elements, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, orchards, chromated copper arsenate, arsenic, chromium, copper, mercury, health risk assessment, Ventura County
- MeSH terms
- Farmers, California, Environmental Monitoring, Fires, Humans, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Soil, Soil Pollutants, Trace Elements
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