How To Reduce Exposure To Asbestos After Tustin Hangar Fire

Tustin-area residents in Orange County are being told to keep their homes sealed tight and avoid ash after air quality experts detected asbestos near the historic air station hangar that burned down earlier this week.

County officials declared a local emergency in an effort to unlock clean-up funds from state, federal and other sources.

Samples of debris from public areas near the hanger analyzed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District contain asbestos as well as heavy metals including lead, arsenic and nickel.

“Building fires are more dangerous even than wildfires because amongst all the things that burns are the unnatural things, plastics and stuff like that, that generate chemicals that can be very irritating and inflammatory,” said Richard Castriotta, a pulmonology and sleep medicine specialist with Keck Medicine of USC.

Asbestos fibers are indestructible, which was one reason they were used as insulation for decades and are still found in buildings built before 1960.

When building materials are burned or damaged, any asbestos fibers present in the ash and debris can become airborne and potentially inhaled.  Long-term exposure to asbestos causes some forms of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Toxic gasses and chemicals would cause symptoms in area residents right away, while any asbestos exposure likely wouldn’t show up for years, Castriotta said.

“If they get trapped in the lung, your body can never really get rid of it, and that asbestos can stay forever," he said. "When people ask about symptoms from asbestos exposure, those symptoms aren’t going to be available for many many years. So it’s a little bit silly now to say, ‘Oh we should watch for symptoms of asbestos exposure.’ It takes about 25 years to develop asbestosis, the interstitial lung disease we get from inhaling a lot of asbestos.”

Castriotta added that there’s no safe level of asbestos exposure. The people most at risk of health impacts will be in the areas with the highest amount of debris and those who clean it up. He cautioned residents to keep ash out of their house.

“I don’t know how much asbestos was there and if there was a significant amount. The more it’s in an enclosed environment, the higher the exposure risk. If it’s blowing around in the air, and it gets dissipated into very sparse numbers of particles per square cubic centimeter then it’s not going to cause much harm,” he said.

Orange County health officials recommend that residents close to the hanger wear an N-95 mask outside, especially if ash is prevalent, and run air purifiers with HEPA filters or air conditioners.

The people most at risk of health impacts will be in the areas with the highest amount of debris.