What parents should know about the air and the ash
Libby Rainey
is a general assignment reporter. She covers the news that shapes Los Angeles and how people change the city in return.
Published January 14, 2025 12:36 PM
Zahrah Mihm (L) holds her son Ethan as they look for clothes after being displaced by the Eaton Fire, at a donation center in Santa Anita Park, Arcadia.
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Etienne Laurent
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AFP via Getty Images
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Topline:
Wildfire smoke causes particularly dangerous air quality, especially for sensitive groups that include children and pregnant people.
What's in the air? "It's not just forest burning, but unfortunately, homes and businesses and factories with their own sets of plastics and toxins that… will be high levels of oxides, nitrates, and heavy metals that can be carcinogenic," said Richard Castriotta, a pulmonologist at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
Why are particulates especially dangerous for pregnant people and young children? Because they have higher respiratory rates, according to Rita Kachru, the chief of allergy and immunology at UCLA. This means that these groups are breathing faster — so they inhale more pollutants per minute.
Keep reading... for advice on how to stay safe — for you and your kids.
Fires are still burning in parts of Los Angeles, and potentially dangerous winds continue to be a threat.
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2:09
What parents should know about wildfire air quality, ash, and protecting kids
Wildfire smoke causes particularly dangerous air quality, especially for sensitive groups that include children and pregnant people. The multiple fires that broke out last week led L.A. County to issue a smoke advisory that ended Sunday evening, and the South Coast Air Quality Management District extended a "windblown dust and ash advisory" through Wednesday evening.
Many families are still wondering, justly, how safe the air is. Facebook and Reddit groups for parents and caretakers have been bursting with questions about what children can or can't do, and making some version of the same inquiries: How can the air supposedly be OK when it’s filled with ash? And what does that mean for kids?
What’s in the air?
First, the risks.
Wildfire smoke includes small particles that can be dangerous for your health. (It’s called particulate matter 2.5).
As LAist has reported:
Depending on the fire, the smoke can be made up of various substances, including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water vapor, particulate matter, organic chemicals, nitrogen oxides, and more. Exposure to smoke can cause a range of health effects, from eye and lung irritation to asthma and premature death.
"It's not just forest burning, but unfortunately, homes and businesses and factories with their own sets of plastics and toxins that… will be high levels of oxides, nitrates, and heavy metals that can be carcinogenic," said Richard Castriotta, a pulmonologist at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine.
How do I know what particulates are in the air?
The South Coast Air Quality Management District monitors particulates in our region, and is responsible forthe air quality index (or AQI). And experts say AQI is a good place to start. The SC AQMD marks 0-50 air quality as good, 51-100 as moderate, and anything higher as unhealthy for sensitive groups, which includes pregnant people and children.
But the AQI doesn't account for everything, said Michael Kleinman, co-director of the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory with UC Irvine's School of Population and Public Health.
"The particles from the fire, especially close to where the fire was, will be contaminated with other toxic materials, and they can be a harm hazard," he said.
The AQI is fine, but I'm still worried. What should I know?
Castriotta with USC said toxins from burning homes won't always be taken into consideration in the air quality index. And the closer you are to a fire or burned homes, the higher the risk of those contaminants in the air.
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0:44
Driving near a wildfire area? Here's a car tip to stay safe
He said potentially toxic ash from burned buildings could get spread in the aftermath of a fire — but where it goes depends on the winds.
"If you're in Santa Monica close to the Palisades Fire, or if you're in Pasadena close to the Eaton Fire and the wind's blowing in that direction, then you probably want to keep your kids out of ... the outside air," he said.
Why are children and pregnant people at a higher risk around wildfire smoke?
These pollutants can be particularly dangerous for young children and pregnant people because they have higher respiratory rates, according to Rita Kachru, the chief of allergy and immunology at UCLA. This means that these groups are breathing faster — so they inhale more pollutants per minute.
"[Children are] considered a little bit more high-risk because they're a little bit more sensitive to the air pollution, because they tend to spend more time outside," Kachru said. "They tend to have more vigorous activity when they're running around outside. It's hard to tell a little 3-year-old, 'OK, go outside, but don't run around.'"
Children with pre-existing health conditions such as allergies and asthma may be at higher risk when it comes to wildfire smoke exposure, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
How do I protect myself and my kids from bad air quality?
The best mitigation is being out of environments with unhealthy air, said Mary Johnson, a research scientist at Harvard's School of Public Health.
" If you can stay away from the smoke and stay indoors, or go where the air quality is better, you should do it. It's always better to avoid exposure," she told LAist on Monday.
If you can't leave the area entirely, multiple health experts agreed that staying inside is important to staying healthy.
"I know we all have PTSD from COVID, and that's the last thing anybody wants to hear is stay indoors," Kachru said. "But really, that is the best thing you can do."
Staying healthy while indoors
Much of the advice for keeping children safe is the same as the guidance everyone is following. The CDC advises parents to:
Keep children indoors when air quality is poor
Keep doors and windows closed
If possible, use an HVAC system with an air filter or a portable air filter.
Kachru also recommends keeping infants and children cool and hydrated during a wildfire, for example by giving your child a cool bath.
"Keep them cool, so they don't have too much internal heat as well," she said.
And here are other tips we've compiled from our previous coverage and elsewhere:
Experts recommend a HEPA filter — worth noting, HEPA stands for high efficiency particulate air — if you can get one. If you can't access an air filter, here's a guide to making your own out of a box fan.
The Environmental Protection Agency suggests creating a clean room in your home — a designated space to keep air quality as high as possible. It has a guide to setting this up here.
We have to go outside. What should we do?
If you have to be outside in bad air quality, wear an N-95 mask. Children over the age of 2 can also wear a mask, but make sure it fits properly.
" My suggestion is to make a game out of it, so that the child will accept it," said Castriotta with USC about helping your child to wear a mask.
He also said if you need to take your kids somewhere in a car, run the air conditioning and make sure the air that's circulating is just the air that's inside the car.
Do you have a question about the wildfires or fire recovery?
Check out LAist.com/FireFAQs to see if your question has already been answered. If not, submit your questions here, and we’ll do our best to get you an answer.
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We evacuated and are returning to our home. How do I know it's safe?
The L.A. County Department of Public Health advises parents returning home after a wildfire to keep children away from ash and items covered in ash.
"Think of ash like fine, dangerous dust that can be inhaled deep into the lungs and can cause major problems everywhere it lands. It's not just dirt," a county advisory states.
Before returning with children to an area impacted by wildfire, the EPA and pediatric groups recommend you check for:
safe drinking water
running electricity
safe road conditions
structurally sound homes; and
sewage, ash, and debris have been removed
Kleinman with UC Irvine advises those returning home to wipe down walls and surfaces, and vacuum to clean the house. The county recommends a vacuum with a HEPA filter —a vacuum that sprays dust around could be counterproductive.
" Even though the ambient air, the outside air, is relatively clean, the air inside the home may be worse," Kleinman said.
He added that if you don't have an air quality monitor, looking for how much dust is accumulating is a good way to get a sense of indoor air quality.
And if you do return to a site where a home burned down, experts say to be careful afterward.
" Don't take your outer clothing that you wore into the fire zone and then wash it with the family laundry, because whatever toxic chemicals are there are going to be spread around," Kleinman said. " People have to be very cautious and avoid unnecessary exposure."
Learn more from an expert
On Jan. 22, we interviewed Kachru about all things air quality for an Instagram Live presentation. Watch it for yourself:
Fresh Air film critic Justin Chang says most of his favorite films this year were made overseas, including his No. 1 pick, Sirāt.
The bad news: Anyone will tell you that these are tumultuous, borderline-apocalyptic times for the film industry. Box office is down. The threat of AI looms. Billionaires and tech giants are laying waste to what remains of the major Hollywood studios.
The good news: Chang says he saw more terrific new movies this year than any year since before the pandemic. True, most of those movies weren't from here, but all of them played in U.S. theaters in 2025, and all of them are well worth seeking out in the weeks and months to come.
Read on ... for the list and trailers.
Anyone will tell you that these are tumultuous, borderline-apocalyptic times for the film industry. Box office is down. The threat of AI looms. Billionaires and tech giants are laying waste to what remains of the major Hollywood studios. I'm not entirely sure how to square all this bad news with my own good news, which is that I saw more terrific new movies this year than I have any year since before the pandemic. True, most of those movies weren't from here, but all of them played in U.S. theaters in 2025, and all of them are well worth seeking out in the weeks and months to come.
The best new movie I saw this year is a breakthrough work from a gifted Spanish filmmaker named Oliver Laxe. It's a nail-biting survival thriller, set in the desert of southern Morocco during what feels like the end-times. It's a little Mad Max, a little Wages of Fear, and all in all, the most exhilarating and devastating two hours I experienced in a theater this year. Sirāt also features the year's best original score, composed by the electronic musician Kangding Ray.
Paul Thomas Anderson's much-loved, much-debated reimagining of Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland is an exuberant mash-up of action-thriller and political satire. One Battle After Another stars Leonardo DiCaprio in one of his best and funniest performances as an aging revolutionary drawn back into the field. He leads an ensemble that includes Teyana Taylor, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn, Regina Hall and the terrific discovery, Chase Infiniti.
Caught by the Tides is an unclassifiable hybrid of fiction and nonfiction from the Chinese director Jia Zhangke. Drawn from a mix of archival footage and newly shot material, it's a one-of-a-kind portrait of the myriad transformations that China has gone through over the past two decades.
4. Resurrection
Resurrection, another structurally bold Chinese title, is a bit like an Avatar moviefor film buffs. Placing us in the head of a shapeshifting protagonist, the director, Bi Gan, takes us on a gorgeous, dreamlike odyssey through various cinema genres, from historical spy drama to vampire thriller.
My No. 5 movie is the year's best documentary: My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow, from the director Julia Loktev. It's a sprawling yet intimate portrait of several Russian independent journalists in the harrowing months leading up to President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As a portrait of anti-authoritarian resistance, it pairs nicely with my No. 6 movie.
The Secret Agent is an emotionally rich, sneakily funny and continually surprising drama from the director Kleber Mendonça Filho. Set in 1977, it lays bare the personal cost of dissidence during Brazil's military dictatorship.
7. Sound of Falling
Although not a horror film, exactly, this German drama qualifies as the best and spookiest haunted-house movie I've seen this year. Directed by Mascha Schilinski, Sound of Falling teases out the connections among four generations of girls and young women who have passed through the same remote farmhouse.
8. April
April, from the director Dea Kulumbegashvili, is a tough, bleak, but utterly hypnotic portrait of a skilled OB-GYN trying to provide health care for women in a conservative East Georgian village. It may be set far from the U.S., but the difficulties these women face would resonate in any setting.
Directed by Rungano Nyoni, this Zambian film is a subtly mesmerizing drama about a death that takes place in a middle-class household, setting off a chain of dark revelations that threaten to tear a family apart.
It Was Just an Accident, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival, is a shattering moral thriller from the Iranian director Jafar Panahi. It centers on a group of former political prisoners who are given a rare chance at retribution. In the past, Panahi has been a prisoner in Iran himself, and earlier this month, the government sentenced the director in absentia to a year in prison. I hope that Panahi never sees the inside of a jail cell again, and that his movie is seen as far and wide as possible.
Copyright 2025 NPR
Robert Garrova
explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.
Published December 13, 2025 5:00 AM
Interior of Healing Force of the Universe records in Pasadena, where a benefit concert is held on Sunday to help fire survivors build back their record collections.
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Erin Grace Kim
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LAist
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Topline:
This Sunday, a special donation concert at Pasadena's Healing Force of the Universe record store helps fire survivors get their vinyl record collections back.
The backstory: The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s musical instruments in the Eaton Fire. Now, he has turned his efforts on rebuilding people's lost record collections.
Read on ... to find details of the show happening Sunday.
In the wake of the Eaton Fire, Altadena and Pasadena’s music community have really shown up to support fire survivors, especially fellow musicians who lost instruments and record collections.
That effort continues this weekend with a special donation concert at a Pasadena record store, with the aim of getting vinyl records back in the hands of survivors who lost their collections.
“You know, our name is Healing Force of the Universe, and I think that gives me a pretty clear direction… especially after the fires,” said Austin Manuel, founder of Pasadena record store, where Sunday’s show will be held.
The record donation effort is the brainchild of musician Brandon Jay, who founded the nonprofit Altadena Musicians after losing his home and almost all of his family’s instruments in the Eaton Fire. Through Altadena Musicians’s donation and registry platform, Jay said he and his partners have helped some 1,200 fire survivors get their music instruments back.
Brandon Jay.
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Robert Garrova
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LAist
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Now, that effort has fanned out to restoring vinyl record collections.
“All of that stuff evaporated for thousands of people,” Jay said. “Look at your own record collection and be like, ‘Wow, what if that whole thing disappeared?’”
You might know Jay from several bands over the years, including Lutefisk, a 1990s alt-rock band based in Los Angeles. He and his wife, Gwendolyn Sanford, composed music for TV shows, including Orange is the New Black and Weeds.
Jay plans to play some holiday tunes at Sunday's record donation show (which LAist is the media sponsor), along with fellow musician Daniel Brummel of Sanglorians. Brummel, who was also a founding member of Pasadena’s indie-rock sensation Ozma, said he was grateful to Jay for his fire recovery work and to Manuel for making Healing Force available for shows like this.
Brummel, who came close to losing his own home in the Eaton Fire, recalled a show he played at Healing Force back in March.
Ryen Slegr (left) and Daniel Brummel perform with their band, Ozma, on the 2014 Weezer Cruise.
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Even Keel Imagery
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“The trauma of the fires was still really fresh,” Brummel said. After playing a cover of Rufus Wainwright’s “Going to a Town,” that night — which includes the lyrics “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down” — Brummel said his neighbors in the audience told him the rendition hit them hard. “It felt really powerful. And without that space, it just wouldn’t have occurred.”
Details
Healing Force of the Universe Record Donation Show Featuring: Quasar (aka Brandon Jay), Sanglorians (Daniel Brummel) and The Acrylic. Sunday, Dec. 14; 2 to 5 p.m. 1200 E. Walnut St., Pasadena Tickets are $15 or you can donate 5 or more records at the door. More info here.
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Fire department honored with 'Award of Excellence'
Makenna Sievertson
covers the daily drumbeat of Southern California — events, processes and nuances making it a unique place to call home.
Published December 12, 2025 4:30 PM
The "Award of Excellence Star" honoring the Los Angeles Fire Department on Friday.
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Matt Winkelmeyer
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Getty Images
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Topline:
The Hollywood Walk of Fame has a new neighbor — a star dedicated to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Why it matters: The Fire Department has been honored with an “Award of Excellence Star” for its public service during the Palisades and Sunset fires, which burned in the Pacific Palisades and Hollywood Hills neighborhoods of L.A. in January.
Why now: The star was unveiled on Hollywood Boulevard on Friday at a ceremony hosted by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and Hollywood Community Foundation.
Awards of Excellence celebrate organizations for their positive impacts on Hollywood and the entertainment industry, according to organizers. Fewer than 10 have been handed out so far, including to the LA Times, Dodgers and Disneyland.
The backstory: The idea of awarding a star to the Fire Department was prompted by an eighth-grade class essay from Eniola Taiwo, 14, from Connecticut. In an essay on personal heroes, Taiwo called for L.A. firefighters to be recognized. She sent the letter to the Chamber of Commerce.
“This star for first responders will reach the hearts of many first responders and let them know that what they do is recognized and appreciated,” Taiwo’s letter read. “It will also encourage young people like me to be a change in the world.”
LAFD Chief Jaime E. Moore, Eniola Taiwo and LAFD firefighters with the "Award of Excellence Star" Friday.
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Matt Winkelmeyer
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Getty Images North America
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The Award of Excellence Star is in front of the Ovation Entertainment Complex next to the Walk of Fame; however, it is separate from the official program.
What officials say: Steve Nissen, president and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement Taiwo’s letter was the inspiration for a monument that will “forever shine in Hollywood.”
“This recognition is not only about honoring the bravery of the Los Angeles Fire Department but also about celebrating the vision of a young student whose words reminded us all of the importance of gratitude and civic pride,” said Nissen, who’s also president and CEO of the Hollywood Community Foundation.
L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto was accused of an ethics breach in a case the city settled for $18 million.
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Carlin Stiehl
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
Fallout from allegations of an ethics breach by Los Angeles’ elected city attorney has reached the City Council. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Friday requesting a closed-session meeting about an allegation that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto improperly contacted a witness days before her office entered into one of the city’s biggest settlements in recent years. The motion came a day after LAist reported about the allegation.
The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.
The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.
What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."
What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."
Topline:
Fallout from allegations of an ethics breach by Los Angeles’ elected city attorney has reached the City Council. Councilmember Ysabel Jurado introduced a motion Friday requesting a closed-session meeting about an allegation that City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto improperly contacted a witness days before her office entered into one of the city’s biggest settlements in recent years. The motion came a day after LAist reported about the allegation.
The case: In September, the city settled a lawsuit brought forward by two brothers in their 70s who said they suffered serious injuries after an LAPD officer crashed into their car. Days before the $18 million settlement was reached, lawyers for the brothers said Feldstein Soto called an expert witness testifying for the plaintiffs and “attempted to ingratiate herself with him and asked him to make a contribution to her political campaign,” according to a sworn declaration to the court by the plaintiffs’ attorney, Robert Glassman.
The response: Feldstein Soto did not respond to an interview request. Her spokesperson said the settlement “had nothing to do” with the expert witness. Her campaign manager told LAist the city attorney had been making a routine fundraising call and did not know the person had a role in the case, nor that there were pending requests for her office to pay him fees.
What Jurado says: In a statement to LAist, Jurado said she wants to “make sure that the city’s legal leadership is guided by integrity and accountability, especially when their choices affect public trust, civic rights and the city’s limited resources."
What’s next: The motion needs to go through a few committees before reaching the full City Council. If it passes, the motion calls for the city attorney to “report to council in closed session within 45 days regarding the ethics breach violation and give updates to the City Council."
