Los Angeles Schools Tackle IAQ Challenges after Wildfires

Historic 2025 wildfires forced the district to enhance filtration and monitoring to ensure safe indoor air quality

Published on Mar. 6, 2026

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The Los Angeles Unified School District faced immense challenges in addressing indoor air quality (IAQ) issues caused by smoke from the historic 2025 wildfires that impacted the entire region. Krisztina Tokes, the district's chief facilities officer, says one of the key lessons learned was the need for enhanced air filtration and air quality monitoring to limit smoke intrusion and ensure safe and healthy interior spaces for students and staff. The district took extensive measures to clean facilities, replace air filters, and install air purifiers and monitors districtwide to prepare for future emergencies.

Why it matters

The sheer scale of the Los Angeles Unified School District, spanning over 21,000 buildings and 75 million square feet, made addressing the IAQ issues caused by the wildfires an unprecedented challenge. The district's response highlights the critical role facilities teams play in ensuring student and staff safety, as well as the importance of proactive planning and multi-agency collaboration to build resilience against natural disasters.

The details

The district estimates the total damage from the wildfires at $604 million, with three schools physically damaged or destroyed. Tokes' team played a key role in the fast and safe evacuation of students and staff, and all district schools reopened within a month, with five schools on a phased schedule. To address IAQ, the district cleaned exterior debris, replaced over 115,000 air filters, and installed air purifiers and monitors districtwide to enable quicker decision-making during emergencies.

  • The wildfires broke out in January 2025.
  • Palisades High School students returned to the school on January 27, 2026 after attending classes in a temporary facility for a year.
  • All district schools reopened on January 13, 2025, with five schools located closest to the fire fully open by January 24.

The players

Krisztina Tokes

The chief facilities officer of the Los Angeles Unified School District, overseeing the maintenance of all school and administrative facilities.

Los Angeles Unified School District

The second-largest school district in the nation, spanning about 710 square miles and encompassing the entire city of Los Angeles and parts of 25 neighboring cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County.

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What they’re saying

“One of the big lessons learned is enhanced filtration because of the air quality — enhanced filtration and air quality monitoring to limit smoke intrusion and make sure our interior spaces are healthy and safe.”

— Krisztina Tokes, Chief Facilities Officer, Los Angeles Unified School District

“The response time and making sure all students were safe was incredible. We were able to relocate the two elementary schools into existing campuses within three days. That was an incredible mobilization by people districtwide — our maintenance folks, truck operations, food service, the office of environmental health and safety, our technology division. It was really an incredible district-wide effort.”

— Krisztina Tokes, Chief Facilities Officer, Los Angeles Unified School District

What’s next

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The takeaway

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