Firefighters are warning that the smoke pouring out of neighborhoods in Southern California is a poisonous soup, in part because of the ubiquity of plastics and other petrochemical products inside them. 'It's one of the reasons why we can't put firefighters in front of these houses,' the Cal Fire battalion chief David Acuna told me on Monday. After any lifesaving work has been done, keeping firefighters in the toxic air is too great a risk.
If your couch is like many available on the market today, it's made of polyester fabric (plastic) wrapped around polyurethane foam (plastic). When polyurethane foam burns, it releases potentially deadly hydrogen-cyanide gas.
Very few fixtures of the modern home are entirely free of plastic. Consider, too, the ubiquity of vinyl plank flooring, popular for its resistance to scuffing, and vinyl siding, admired for its durability. Then there is foam insulation, laminate countertops, and the many synthetic textiles in our bedding and curtains and carpets.
Research has long shown that exposure to the tiny particles that make up wildfire smoke is a major health hazard; as I've written before, wildfire smoke kills thousands of people prematurely each year and is linked to a range of maladies.
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