Image: The Sand Fire near Santa Clarita, California, U.S. in July 2016. Credited to Getty Images and Attila Adam.

The opinions, claims, conclusions, and positions expressed on this blog are those of the author or person quoted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, AIHA®, The Synergist®, or SynergistNOW.

This post is a continuation of the discussion between AIHA’s chief science officer, Michele Twilley, DrPH, CIH, and Dawn Bolstad-Johnson, MPH, CIH, CSP, FAIHA, about the assessment of structures that have been damaged by fire. Their conversation covered instrumentation, sampling and analysis, issues for homeowners, forthcoming guidance from AIHA’s Real-Time Detection Systems Committee, and other aspects of post-fire assessments. Bolstad-Johnson is CEO and founder of Kaizen Safety Solutions in Phoenix, Arizona.

This post is available in the March 2025 issue of The Synergist.