How UCLA Fielding supported research, recovery and public health after the 2025 Los Angeles fires

Beginning in the first hours of the devastating 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty, staff and students have rallied to respond, launching investigations into the impact of the blazes on public health and how to address the risk of similar fires in the future.

This work has ranged from the largest ongoing study of the fire's public health impact to tracking the health of firefighters; training recovery and construction workers on how to do their work safely; and bringing free health and safety testing into the communities hit hardest in the Altadena and Palisades fires.

The Jan. 2025 blazes in Los Angeles County, in both the Pacific Palisades-Malibu area in western Los Angeles, adjacent to the Santa Monica Mountains, and the Altadena-Pasadena communities in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, claimed at least 31 lives and damaged or destroyed more than 18,000 structures, according to the county.

At UCLA Fielding, the work began immediately, both to ensure the safety of staff and students at the school's Westwood campus and to support those who were displaced by the fires, said Dr. David Eisenman, a physician and professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences and director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters.

"In some ways, our immediate response was similar to what we had to do, over a much longer period, when it came to crisis management during the COVID-19 pandemic - making certain our people were safe, supporting those who needed assistance, and keeping the school functioning and responsive to the shifting needs of the recovery effort," Eisenman said. "But a huge element of public health as a discipline is emergency management, and our faculty are experts in just that; we study and practice, so we were ready - it's simply that the fires just occurred very quickly in comparison to the pandemic."

Read more about the Fielding School's active work in research, recovery and support across the campus and region.