♪ anchor: tonight, california where fires -- wildfires rage and to new areas of los angeles and the death toll rises. the epa says a chemical found in homes, schools, and businesses poses an unreasonable risk to human health. the rapidly expanding universe

of miniature drones is raking in millions. >> what we have learned is that hollywood underestimates this kind of innovative content at its own peril. ♪ >> major funding has been provided by. >> in 1995, friends set out to make wireless coverage accessible to all. with no long-term contracts, nationwide coverage, and u.s.-based customer support, consumer cellular, freedom calls. ♪ >> the ongoing support of these

individuals and institutions. and friends. this program was made possible for the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your station by viewers like you. thank you. anchor: good evening. the desperate battle between firefighters and wildfires in los angeles is now in its fifth day. high winds are threatening more lives and more homes. there are 11 confirmed deaths from the fire so far. we have coverage tonight from malibu. reporter: as the light of day

dawned over los angeles, a thick wall of smoke fanned over hillside neighborhoods that so far have been spared by the flames. helicopters scramble to drench the wildfires with water pulled from a nearby water from -- reservoir. overnight, the fire burning through pacific palisades spread northeast into her through vast tracts of the santa monica mountains. that caused additional evacuations. >> we immediately redeployed resources from the san benito valley to begin evacuation and efforts with a relentless air attack. reporter: the mayor stood by her. responding to mounting criticism about inadequate firefighting resources. >> we have to stay focused until this time passes.

when the fires are out, make no mistake, we will have a full accounting of what worked and what did not. reporter: a los angeles times investigation found that a key area reservoir was empty in the lead up to the fires. when firefighters confronted dry hydrants. the fire chief defended the departments preparations that deflected criticism made a decision makers. >> i did everything in my power to make sure that we had enough personnel and resources before the first fire started. it was not for a lack of preparation and decision-making that resulted in this catastrophe. reporter: it is a disaster that still has residence relating. she works for a humanitarian aid

organization. she has become an expert on what it takes to recover from wildfires and on the effects of communities from climate change. >> all we lost was our stuff. reporter: this week her work became more personal than ever when the palisades fire arrived at her doorstep. >> i was in shock and disbelief. i try to separate myself. and remember what other people who have survived fires told me. take it one moment at a time. reporter: she had her husband had lived there with her children for the last eight years. >> you can have all of the information, all of the go bags, training, the plans, the alerts, but you also have to have a support system for after.

i consider myself a really strong woman. i did not cry in front of my kids. and then i said i can cry in front of them. they can see that this is powerful. reporter: it is still unclear whether they will be housed. she questions whether continuing to rebuild in these high-risk areas is sustainable. >> all of these people will want to rebuild. i want to move right back to where i was. i want to the grocery store back, my dentist, the library, the school. but should they? it is hard to reconcile that in my brain. i cannot. reporter: that ambivalence about what is next is palpable.

looking ahead, the forecast is not terrible but it is not great. they are expecting santa ana winds anywhere from moderate to strong from now through wednesday. firefighters really trying to get ahead of containment through the air. anchor: clearly the priority now is containing these fires, limiting the damage, but have they begun to figure out how they started? reporter: there is suspected arson and one of the smaller fires. as for the two larger fires we have been covering, there has been no official cause. they announced today a new task force made up of local, regional, and state and federal authorities that will be investigating the causes of the major fires. anchor: i know you grew up in the area not far from some of the evacuation zones. what has it been like to go back home and see all of this devastation? >> i did not grow up in this

fancy malibu area. my family is inland. they were close to the altadena evacuation zone. it is hard to see places where you hold memories go up in flames. there are some places that remain. my family like others were on tenterhooks for days as winds and fire conditions continued. but this is home and i cannot see them leaving this place. between the disasters in the cost of living in the cost to rebuild, i do have to wonder if this will be an inflection point for some angelenos who have until now held onto the california dream. anchor: thank you. and to your entire team out there. reporter: thank you. anchor: the vast plumes of smoke -- are threatening the health of people miles away.

this is led the biden administration and los angeles county to declare public health emergencies. we spoke with a doctor who is the assistant professor of medicine and public health at ucla. reporter: thank you so much for joining us. you have lived on the west coast for a long time. how does this fire compared to others you have experienced and what kinds of symptoms are folks presenting in your clinical practice right now? >> it is been a very busy few days. lots of folks coming into the clinic feeling more chest tightness. in general just worse than their baseline. we have spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to optimize respiratory medications to compensate for that. and counseling on how to best keep themselves safe given these difficult circumstances we are experiencing right now. reporter: what kind of health issues tend to crop up when there are fires like this? >> we worry most about people

with a lung disease. it can work its way down into the deepest parts of the loan. and transmit through the long. that can affect people without pre-existing lung disease. if people cannot get enough oxygen in their body. even if you are a seasoned athlete, this is not the time to be going outside and taking a hike to see if you can see the fire. this is affecting everyone. my allergies are acting up and i

haven't even been outside today. reporter: what are some of the efforts for how people can protect themselves? >> for the most part, we encourage you, if you do not need to go outside for something right now, try to stay indoors. if you have central air conditioning, usually there is a filter. that is the equivalent of a high efficiency. a hepa filter in the bedroom at night, where you will spend most of your time, could make a big difference. for those who need to go outside , you should be wearing a mouse. it has pores that are small enough.

once you are in your car, most of them have an air filter. it is really just if you will be out walking around doing your shopping. you need to be extra careful. reporter: great advice for everybody. ♪ anchor: in other news, president biden has given pope francis the highest billion award. it is the first and only time mr. biden has given the award with distinction.

late word tonight that jack smith has resigned from the justice department. any court filing, he said that he asked for the quick release of the report. some justice department officials say it may never be made public. sam moore has died from complications following surgery. he recorded some of soul music's defining hits. other musicians have cited him as an influence. he was inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame in 1992. he was 89 years old. still to come, the dangers of toxic chemical most of us

encounter in our everyday lives. and the growing popularity of short-term videos designed to be watched on your phone. >> this is pbs news weekend from my studio in washington. anchor: many of us know formaldehyde is a clear chemical with a powerful smell that permeates high school biology labs. it is found just about everywhere, including a lot of things that are in your homes and offices right now. this past week, the epa evaluation said it poses an unreasonable risk to human health. last month, an investigation concluded that it causes far more cancer than any other airborne pollutants.

they say not enough is being done to address the risk. we mentioned some of the places. how pervasive is formaldehyde? >> it is incredibly pervasive. it is essentially ubiquitous. indoors, the concentration is particularly high because lots of products do that. it is pretty much everywhere outdoors. the epa analyzes toxic air pollutants and estimates for cancer risk for each one of them. ideally they are supposed to limit the exposure to these chemicals so that they cause no more than one case of cancer in every million people exposed.

for most of the dozens of toxic air pollutants, that is the case. formaldehyde causes more cancer than any of them by far. so according to the epa numbers, it is more than 20 cancers per million people. but we found in our investigation with the epa acknowledged to us was this is an underestimate. the actual number is closer to 77 cases of cancer in a million people. anchor: is the epa doing enough to address the danger even at the level they say that it is? >> they could do more, for sure. this is really important to the limits they put on the chemical. they need to find unreasonable risk. despite all the formaldehyde,

they found no unreasonable risk. there were a number of situations where they did not find unreasonable risk. those are the concerns that they were pointing at. we will have to see what happens next. anchor: you mentioned formaldehyde outdoors. the american chemistry council responded to the story and said it ignored the fact that formaldehyde dissipates quickly and sunlight. they fully acknowledge that all formaldehyde in the outside air comes from natural biogenic sources. >> in terms of the sources of formaldehyde, there are biogenic sources. we talk about that in the article. that means sources that come from nature. those sources are greatly amplified.

pollution from manufacturing class is measured by the epa. i don't think they would say that is incorrect. our reporting is correct. anchor: is there any indication of the new trump administration will approach regulation of formaldehyde any differently than it is being dealt with now? >> we know from the first trump administration, when they rolled back many environmental regulations and rules, they like to take a more industry friendly stance. everything he said on the campaign trail makes us think he will continue to do this. pete sessions, a staunch ally of trump, wrote a letter to the epa saying he wants to focus on

revisiting what the biden administration did on formaldehyde as soon as possible. they are already focused on how to do this. anchor: i know you have also published stories telling people how they can limit exposure to formaldehyde. >> you want to look at the list of ingredients on your products. sometimes products will have labels about whether they do or do not have formaldehyde. the best way when you get new products is they emit a lot of formaldehyde in the first couple of days. the other thing is to keep your windows open when you can. anchor: thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. really appreciate it.

anchor: these days, most of the video entertainment we watch is not at the movies or television or computer. it is on a smart phone. to cater to these changing habits, many chinese companies are turning out the small soap operas for phone viewing. reporter: you may have seen the ads on tiktok or facebook. there is one cliffhanger after another. in the first quarter, these apps raked in millions of dollars in global revenue.

thank you so much for joining as fair and walk us through what these are and what the appeal is. >> they are called vertical shorts or vertical series. there is essentially feature-length bones that are broken down into minute long chunks. the idea is that the viewer will scroll through them. and watch the entire thing in one sitting. they are not intended for a laptop or a big-screen television. reporter: tell us about how popular this is in china. how much has the industry grown? >> they are incredibly popular in china. they took off in the pandemic.

it is a countries where people are more likely to consume entertainment. i spoke to the ceo of one of these companies. he said they are pulling in about $10 million in revenue every month. reporter: the content and is not exactly, it does not feel oscar worthy. [laughter] is that a trademark of this genre? is that something that if it becomes more mainstream would have to change? >> i would say that it's a good way of putting it.

when you talk to the actors and producers and even the ceo about this, they see that as an asset. they don't see it as being detrimental to the success of the platform because they do not see it as an art or, really. they see it as what it is, algorithmically generated content that has mass cross-cultural appeal. the comparison that the ceo made to me when i spoke with him is it is like reading usa today that of the wall street journal. i think that is a apt comparison. if you are looking for something well done, you will not be watching this. reporter: what is the differences? >> it is hard to answer that.

they are not union. they are almost exclusively using directors that our recent film school graduates in los angeles who were born in china. they can speak mandarin so they can communicate with the ceo. i have gotten mixed answers about where the scripts come from. whether or not they are written by humans. it is very low-budget. the process is completely different than what it is in hollywood. reporter: what is the payment model? >> typically someone will download the app. they advertise heavily on tiktok.

if you want to watch five more minutes, you have to pay more money. in order to finish a series, the user typically has to pay up to $40. reporter: do you? ? anticipate that this will continue to grow is this what audiences are looking for these days? >> it is a great question. i got a lot of mixed answers on that. a lot of people think it is a fad. it will never get traction in mainstream hollywood. i have also heard rumors that people are interested in getting into this genre. what we have learned is that hollywood underestimates this type of digital content at its

own peril. reporter: thank you so much for your insights. >> thanks so much for having me. ♪ anchor: that is pbs news weekend for this saturday. from all of my colleagues, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for pbs news weekend has been provided by -- the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your station from viewers like you. thank you.

♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you are watching

gates: i am henry lewis gates jr. welcome to "finding your roots." in this episode, we'll meet actors, lea salonga, and amanda seyfried, two stars who are about to discover that their ancestors led far more dramatic lives than they'd ever imagined.