Palisades Fire sends toxic debris into Pacific; forecasted rain could make it worse

New images shared with FOX 11 show how the Palisades Fire is impacting water in nearby Santa Monica Bay.

The pictures show dark-colored, mucky ash in several water samples taken offshore from the Palisades Fire.

"I can’t even imagine the impact on the ecosystem with all of this potentially toxic material coming in," said Julie Dinasquet, a microbiologist with CCE-LTER, Scripps Oceanography, and UCSD.

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Scientists from UC San Diego just so happened to be on their pre-planned annual research trip to Santa Monica Bay, when the Palisades Fire erupted.

"We were collecting a lot of ash and burned debris," said Rasmus Swalethorp, a biological oceanographer with CalCOFI, Scripps Oceanography, and UCSD.  "Not your typical forest fire ash."

Video shared with FOX 11 shows the dark-colored ash even swirling around on their boat as a net intended for plankton brought in buckets of charred rubble.

"As soon as you smelled the debris, it didn’t smell like a typical bonfire like when you go camping. It smelled very synthetic," said Swalethorp. "The first thing that came to mind to me was burned electronics.  Obviously, something that has that smell is likely to have a lot of things associated with it that we don’t want in our marine environment, and we don’t want in our bodies ourselves."

With rain expected this weekend, more fire debris is expected to wash out to sea.

"All of this is going to be flushed out at sea," said Dinasquet.  "I think one of our first concerns is it’s going to really affect all food web interactions and disturb our ecosystem.  On the long term, maybe the fish won’t be good for consumption for people."

City workers have placed barriers up along the Pacific Coast Highway to try and limit mudslides and runoff into the ocean.

While, LA County Public Health has issued a warning, urging people to avoid water contact from Dockweiler State Beach at World Way to Surfrider Beach.

The team of scientists has researched the marine environment in the area throughout the last 75 years and plans to continue examining the short and long-term impacts the Palisades Fire has on ocean life.

"We’re working closely with LA sanitation districts to be able to have a quick response, to go and sample the water as soon as it flushes into the sea," said Dinasquet.

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