After LA wildfires, lead contamination threatens residents

The Fenwick family were fortunate. After a harrowing evacuation in the dead of night from a raging wildfire northeast of Los Angeles in January, Michelle, Darcy and their two children returned to find they still had a home.

Four months later, though, they and thousands of other residents near the burn scar of the Eaton Fire whose homes were spared face a renewed threat - invisible and potentially lethal elevated levels of lead in the soil.

[...]

Lead contamination can cause neurotoxicity and organ damage with exposure over time, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hand-to-mouth transfer is the predominant cause of lead accumulation in children, and it can cause learning problems, developmental delays and behavioural issues, experts say.

[...]