Smoke from 2 megafires fouls North Bay air, with no immediate relief expected

Smoke pouring from two megafires fouled the air in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties on Monday as air quality managers, weather forecasters and health officials warned that unhealthy conditions may continue until the blazes are fully contained days or weeks from now.

Smoke hung heavy Monday over Lake Mendocino, blanketed Clear Lake and prompted the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to declare a record-tying 14th straight Spare the Air Alert, with another set for Tuesday.

Officials warned people to stay indoors, cautioning that children, seniors and people with certain medical conditions were especially vulnerable to harm from breathing wildfire smoke.

“Conditions can change very quickly,” said Kristine Roselius, spokeswoman for the regional district. “We need to be vigilant.”

“If you smell smoke that’s the time to go indoors and protect your health,” she said.

Around Santa Rosa, air quality was rated moderate, meaning acceptable for most people, but conditions were designated unhealthy for young, old and people with heart or lung disease around western Sonoma County and west Petaluma, with some locations deemed unhealthy for most people.

Wildfire cameras on peaks throughout the North Bay showed heavy layers of gray smoke. The camera on Lake County’s Buckingham Peak overlooking Clear Lake was totally blocked by smoke.

Clear Lake was ringed Monday by air monitors recording conditions unhealthy for vulnerable people and the public, according to the Fire and Smoke Map posted by AirNow, a coalition of federal, state and local air quality agencies.

The AirNow map showed wildfire smoke plumes extending from Los Angeles to the Canadian border and ballooning east to Illinois.

Dr. Gary Pace, Lake County’s public health officer, acknowledged the smoky air was “an added burden” for everyone coping with the risks of COVID-19 since April.

“We definitely encourage folks to pay attention to the air quality and to take steps to protect themselves and their families,” he said in the alert.

Conditions should improve slightly in the main Lake County air basin in the next few days, but smoke is expected to intermittently cause problems until all the region’s fires have been contained, Douglas Gearhart, county air pollution control officer, said in the alert.

The National Weather Service said Monday morning that winds and overnight cooling trapped smoke from the 375,209-acre LNU Lightning Complex in Sonoma, Lake, Napa, Solano, Colusa and Yolo counties and the 236,288-acre August Complex to the north in the Mendocino National Forest.

As the foggy marine layer gives way to rising temperatures, smoke can descend quickly and “you can go to unhealthy (air) very fast,” Roselius said.

Residents close to the fires “should use additional caution,” noting that “smoke impacts may be significant until the fires are completely out,” the weather agency said.

Lake County and the weather service warned that smoke concentration may vary “depending upon location, weather and distance from the fire.”

Smoke from burning woodlands and structures contains harmful chemicals that can cause eye and throat irritation, coughing and difficulty breathing, with the vulnerable groups of people at greatest risk, the agencies said. Healthy adults can be affected by smoke, as well.

People at greatest risk from the smoke are advised to stay indoors and avoid prolonged activity, the agencies said. Patients with lung or heart disease should monitor their health and contact a physician if their symptoms worsen.

People who experience repeated coughing, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chest tightness or pain, palpitations, nausea, unusual fatigue or lightheadedness should consider leaving the area until smoke conditions improve.

One of the steps experts advise for coping with the smoke is creating a “clean air room” with the use of an air purifier, which may now be hard to find.

When the lightning-sparked fires and heat wave coincided two weeks ago, Friedman’s Home Improvement in Santa Rosa saw “anything that moved air” ‒ fans, air conditioners and air purifiers ‒ “flying off the shelves,” said Joe McGough, a department head.

Air purifiers were sold “as soon as we could get them on the floor,” he said, and probably won’t be back in stock until sometime this month.

Masks used to slow the spread of COVID-19 offer scant protection against the pollutants in wildfire smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wildfire Guide.

The masks now so familiar in fire season ‒ N95 respirators with exhalation valves ‒ offer protection from smoke and from COVID-19 for the people wearing them but are in extremely short supply after six months of the pandemic.

During a county press briefing Monday, Cal Fire Chief Sean Kavanaugh said the smoke currently in Sonoma County skies is mostly from the August Complex fire burning in the Mendocino National Forest.

Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County’s health officer, who has sounded the alarm over the increased risk of coronavirus amid the current smoky conditions, said the county usually enjoys an air quality index of less than 20.

An air quality index of 60 to 80 during a wildfire is considered unsafe and harmful to breathe, she said, adding that residents should wear masks to prevent them from inhaling very small particulate that might injure the lungs. She said a single exposure is likely not going to have a big impact on a person’s health, but ongoing exposure will.

“So as our air quality index goes even higher, and I think the highest it got in Sonoma County was somewhere around 150 to 200. That's harmful and that's when we ask people to stay indoors,” Mase said.

Check air quality in your area here.

Staff Writer Martin Espinoza contributed to this story. You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.