Airborne toxins after Universal Studios fire within health limits
Preliminary tests find levels of benzene and other contaminants six times or more above normal, though far below limits for serious health effects, an AQMD spokesman says.
Preliminary results of tests done on the air at Universal Studios' smoky back lots Sunday found levels of benzene and other toxic contaminants six times or more above normal.
Air regulators released the results today, taken from tests of air 200 yards downwind of the fire.
South Coast Air Quality Management District spokesman Sam Atwood stressed that there were no reported problems in neighborhoods downwind of the blaze.
At the levels found, firefighters and anyone else in the immediate vicinity of the blaze could have experienced respiratory irritation, but the measurements were far below the limits for serious health effects from short-term exposure, he said.
An air sample collected in Toluca Lake did not show abnormally high levels of air pollutants.
But questions still persisted about why AQMD officials took so long to begin testing Sunday.
AQMD officials didn't send a portable laboratory and chemist to the scene of the Universal City fire until midafternoon Sunday -- eight hours after the industrial blaze began.
By then, some of the fire had been put out, and much of the stew of potential toxic substances from the industrial site likely had already dissipated.
Atwood said Sunday that at least one inspector had been at the scene since morning and that the air district needed to wait until the Fire Department requested samples be taken. He said an air district chemist was "on the way" as of 2 p.m. with a portable analyzer that could do on-the-scene spot tests for toxic air contaminants "if it's working correctly."
Atwood acknowledged that much of the smoke containing any hazardous substances might have dissipated by then, but said it was the district's "long-standing practice" to await and follow orders from emergency response commanders at a fire scene "because we don't want to in any way hamper or impede the Fire Department's efforts."
Today AQMD officials said in a news release that they sent personnel and took tests in response to a request from the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
"The intense heat of the fire carried much of the smoke aloft where it was diluted by cleaner air," the release said.
Asked why the district would not send out an analyzer and chemist at once, Atwood said, "Because we don't go unless we're requested. We don't want to interfere with the Fire Department putting out a fire or carrying out an evacuation, and the incident command has the authority and the primary control of the situation. And we follow their direction."
But Richard Drury, an environmental attorney based in Alameda who has battled AQMD on air pollution issues in the past, disagreed about the district's role in determining risks from the Universal fire.
"They certainly have jurisdiction here. Any kind of toxic air pollution would fall in AQMD's jurisdiction," he said. "They also have the ability to take some air samples, and that would be prudent before you let people in to be exposed to the smoke, I would think."
AQMD officials said they would provide a full report to the county Fire Department and public health officials. The results will be posted online at www.aqmd.gov by late Tuesday, they said.
janet.wilson@latimes.com
