Nicholas Spada Spent Months Analyzing Smoke From the LA Fires. He Thinks People Have a Right to Know, and ‘Air Is Everything.’

After the Fires: Third in a series about health risks following the Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed Pacific Palisades and Altadena. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center .

Nicholas Spada was used to fielding urgent requests when wildfire smoke blanketed cities. But these weren’t the usual calls.

For one thing, it wasn’t even fire season.

Winter was supposed to be the quiet period when wildfires die down and researchers like Spada perform instrument maintenance, write grant proposals and go home for dinner.

Instead, 2025’s so-called off season ignited Jan. 7, when the Santa Ana winds came howling through Los Angeles, bringing gusts upwards of 100 miles per hour, after more than eight months without meaningful rainfall.

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