As the wildfires ravaged across Los Angeles in January, planes throughout the region began dropping bright red fire retardant onto hillsides and homes in an effort to rein in the fires. Earlier this year, LAist partnered with researchers at USC to test samples of the fire retardant gathered from fire zones in the weeks after the Palisades, Eaton and Franklin fires where it remained on the ground. Those tests, including tests conducted on unused samples of the retardant, found toxic heavy metals including lead, arsenic, cadmium and chromium. These toxic heavy metals can accumulate in the environment and pose risks to humans and wildlife, according to federal and state environmental agencies. Joining us to discuss their investigation on the heavy metals found in the fire retardant used during the recent wildfires is LAist science reporter Jacob Margolis.

With files from LAist.