Environmental tests conducted after January’s Palisades wildfire have detected beryllium dust inside dozens of residences and in outdoor air across the burn scar, according to documents obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. The lightweight metal, prized for spacecraft components but hazardous when inhaled, can trigger chronic and sometimes fatal respiratory illness even at minute concentrations. Public-health specialists say the findings point to a wider contamination problem, because the majority of the thousands of structures exposed to the blaze have not been screened for beryllium or other heavy metals. Officials have yet to determine how the element entered the environment; possibilities range from incinerated household products to remnants of aerospace materials carried by the wind during the fire. Los Angeles County has urged residents returning to damaged properties to use certified remediation contractors and high-filtration masks, while it consults state regulators on expanded testing protocols. The uncertainty is rippling beyond the fire zone: surf camps along Santa Monica Bay report enrolments down as much as 30 percent amid parental concerns that wildfire runoff has tainted beach sand and near-shore waters, despite county assurances that ocean samples meet safety standards.