Los Angeles’ Ash Problem
When my family returned to our home in Santa Monica last Sunday night, we breathed a sigh of relief. Our house was fine, and the air quality was in the “good” category. Schools would reopen the next day. But as we unpacked, I noticed what looked like salt-and-pepper snow delicately dancing over the street. Ash from the Palisades Fire, burning just five miles north of us, was descending all around, coating the car we had left behind. In the backyard, it gathered over the small patch of turf we played on and in small clusters all across the garden, where my kids had recently planted carrots. The next morning, we walked to school, talking about the blue sky. My 8-year-old pointed out the piles of windblown ash by the curb. That day, the kids would stay inside so the school could clean the debris from the playground equipment and yard. As I walked the four blocks back home, a city-owned street sweeper buzzed past. When the truck’s bristles hit the pockets of ash, they kicked …
