Already facing significant losses, the communities impacted by the Woolsey Fire are now worried about airborne radioactivity because the Woolsey Fire burned the area around and adjacent to the Santa Susana Field Lab, an old nuclear test facility that is now a superfund site. Vegetation in close proximity to superfund sites tend to have high levels of toxic and possibly radioactive materials stored within them due to nutrient uptake through the roots. As the vegetation surrounding the Santa Susana Lab burned, it released these toxic particulates into the air to be dispersed at the whims of the breeze.

After fielding many questions and having been asked for support, Fairewinds has launched sampling protocols and procedures to collect a wide set of data from as many of the surrounding areas close to the site as possible. Once again, we are utilizing the power of citizen scientists and volunteers to collect these soil and dust samples, so that we and the scientists we work with may more accurately assess if Santa Susana radioactive isotopes are migrating to the surrounding communities or the pristine forests where people hike and explore.

Read our full sampling protocol here