A massive pile of wood debris caught fire and burned from October 27 to October 31, 2001, in northern Pinal County, Arizona. The fire consumed wood debris from citrus trees that had been stored in an approximately 25-acre area in Pinal County near the Queen Creek area. The fire generated a large quantity of smoke. Persons reported smelling the smoke up to 40 miles away from the fire. Meteorological conditions during the fire intermittently created conditions that limited lift, especially at night, causing smoke to settle in residential neighborhoods in the Queen Creek area. The Arizona Department of Health Services issued public health advisories for the evenings of October 29 and 30. This report summarizes the events that occurred during the fire and analyzes the data collected by the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to determine the extent of the public health threat from the fire.

This report presents an assessment of human health risks from exposure to surface soil metals in the Old Tungsten Mill, Tucson, AZ. City of Tucson officials had planned to build a park, on a parcel of land they owned west of Silverbell Road and north of Speedway Boulevard in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona. They had raised $200,000 in bond money to study what was the Old Tungsten Mill site when they found high levels of contaminants in the soil. The Arizona Department of Health Services, Risk Assessment & Health Consultation Program offered assistance to the city. On October 13th, 2006 City Officials asked ADHS to perform a health consultation to evaluate whether exposure to contaminants in soil pose a public health hazard, either currently or during possible future reuse of the land.

A refuse dump near Naco, Sonora, Mexico, caught fire and burned from December 1 to December 5, 2001. The fire, which consumed large quantities of household refuse, also generated a large quantity of smoke. During this period, considerable smoke was intermittently present in Naco, Arizona. This report summarizes the events that occurred during the fire and analyzes the data collected by the Arizona Department of Health Services and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to determine the extent of the public health threat from the fire.

This health consultation evaluates tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene, perc, PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) results obtained from groundwater monitoring wells in 2004. The primary public health concerns were exposures to children by incidental contact with groundwater used for watering yards and potential exposures from using groundwater for drinking water. Another concern was contamination migrating beyond the site boundaries in two groundwater aquifers.