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The Problem
The Problem
There is little evidence-based guidance on how to conduct post-fire environmental sampling and testing, including how results should inform remediation decisions. Further, from reviewing hundreds of home testing reports following the Eaton and Palisades Fires, the communication of results to property owners often fails to clearly articulate the implications for residents.
Our Mission
Our Mission
We are a team of researchers from Tufts University, Purdue University, and UCLA. Since January 2025, we have worked with households and business owners to help respond to and recover from the Eaton and Palisades Fires. (See the "Past Work" page for more information.) We received a National Science Foundation grant to continue work in this area. Our goals in this study are to create evidence-based guidance on how to conduct post-fire environmental sampling and testing, understand challenges faced by residents with standing homes, and create resources to support communication of contamination information. Through our work, we aim to address barriers in environmental testing and sampling, ultimately supporting those impacted by fires with the information needed to make decisions regarding their homes.
How can I Participate?
How can I Participate?
If you are an Eaton or Palisades Fire survivor with a standing home and are over 18, we would love to hear about your experience. To help us organize outreach, we ask that you complete a brief form using the interest link below. Please fill out this Research Interview Form and we will be in touch as scheduling progresses on a rolling basis.
Additionally, if you are interested in submitting environmental testing reports to the study, you can do so using this Environmental Testing Report Form.
*We cannot guarantee that everyone who submits a form will be interviewed, but we will do our best to connect with as many people as possible.
We are exploring the following questions:
- What should we test for and where?
Fundamental Processes that Control Wildfire Contamination
Led by Dr. Whelton and Dr. Mohanty
We have already developed and shared new knowledge about how property owners can approach testing. In this project, we will conduct experiments to understand how wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires create contaminants and how those contaminants end up in homes and the environment. Results will be used to inform sampling, testing, and remediation decisions. We will also create info sheets with best practices for disaster responders, agencies, and consultants who perform sampling and testing.
2. What information does the community need?
2. What information does the community need?
Identify Needs and Gaps in Gathering and Communicating Contamination Information
Led and Co-Led by Dr. Spearing and Dr. Fried
As we have discovered from prior incidents, documenting challenges and opportunities is key to driving positive change in community recovery. We will conduct interviews with impacted community members to understand their experiences and needs regarding sampling, testing, and remediation. We will also conduct interviews with stakeholders and responding agencies to understand barriers in response. These interviews will outline information gaps and issues in the system, providing evidence to improve ongoing and future sampling, testing, and remediation.
3. How can we align needs and information to best support decision-making?
3. How can we align needs and information to best support decision-making?
Leverage AI to Assess Information Misalignments and Develop an Interactive Platform for Risk Communication
Led by Dr. Sunter and Dr. Spearing
From our own experiences and those of households we have had the opportunity to engage with, we will review environmental testing reports and public information to identify misalignments between environmental sampling and testing procedures, results, and recommendations. Using these insights, we will develop an interactive online platform that uses AI to help people understand their own environmental sampling and testing results. This platform will be made publicly available for use.
This project has been reviewed by the human subjects research ethics boards (IRBs) at our universities.
This project is funded by a National Science Foundation grant (Award #2536796).
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