By all accounts, the January firestorms that decimated thousands of homes and killed 31 people in Los Angeles County were the most devastating in the region’s history.

But new research argues that the Eaton and Palisades fires may have been far more deadly than what’s reflected in coroner reports.

A research letter published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. estimates the county experienced 440 more deaths than typically expected between Jan. 5 and Feb. 1 — a period that began just days before the fires exploded. This higher number of deaths, the study notes, likely reflect such health damaging influences as increased exposure to poor air quality, or delays and interruptions in health services caused by the fires.

While the immediate effects of wildfire and other

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