Publication: N.Y. Times

UCLA Expert: Michael Jerrett: Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health; Co-Director, Center for Healthy Climate Solutions; Member, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability; Faculty, Center for Occupational & Environmental Health; Chair, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Fielding School of Public Health 

Synopsis: When trees, branches and leaves burn in wildfires, they emit gasses. Some of the molecules in the gasses might be causing the smell. 

UCLA News: These longer-surviving compounds, such as benzene and formaldehyde, are “certainly a health concern,” Jerrett said.

Read more at N.Y. Times.