Smoky air expected to remain through Tuesday

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District's map of pollution levels as of 1 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 11, 2018).

Wildfire smoke from the Camp Fire in Butte County continues to blanket the Bay Area with unhealthy air today (Nov. 11) and the haze is expected to linger through Tuesday (Nov. 23), air quality officials said.

The hazardous smoke has created unhealthy conditions for much of the region over the past two days, although there were pockets of moderate conditions this morning, said Lisa Fasano, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality District.

The district’s air quality map at baaqmd.gov, updated every hour, showed much of the region in “unhealthy” red on Saturday.

Today, however, the map shows a mix of the the unhealthy red zones, “unhealthy for sensitive groups” in orange and others in “moderate” yellow.

“There has been a little bit of a respite for some areas,” Fasano said. But the weather conditions that are blowing the wildfire smoke to the region from the Butte County blaze and trapping it here are expected to persist through Tuesday, she said.

Residents are advised to reduce outdoor activities and to limit exposure to unhealthy air by closing windows and doors. Those with heart or lung disease should stay inside and limit their physical activity, Fasano said.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Services has information on staying healthy, along with a map of facilities with filtered air, such as libraries and museums on its website http://www.sf72.org.

Many activities and sporting events have been canceled, including the Veterans Day Parade in Fairfield. The Oakland Raiders, however, are playing the Los Angeles Chargers this afternoon.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has called a Spare the Air alert through Monday. Wood burning, including manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel, is banned. In addition, a red flag warning is in effect until 4 p.m. due to gusty northeast winds in the North Bay mountains and East Bay hills.

1 Comment

  1. These fires are only happening because of bad forest management. The fallen timber, leaves, needles and vegetation aren’t being cleaned out, and more and more of these big fires are happening. And then governor moonbeam turns around and blames it on climate change, not at his own policies. Why does my air have to be polluted because he’s such an idiot?

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