Smoke from Kincade fire fouls air over Santa Rosa and other North Bay cities

A thick haze descended on much of the North Bay Monday as winds shifted smoke from the Kincade fire south, spreading a stifling blanket of the worst breathing conditions in the region since last year’s Camp fire in Butte County fouled the air in Santa Rosa and neighboring cities.

A monitoring system brought to Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport during the Kincade fire recorded the second-worst category on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s six-level scale. The area near Windsor and the growing wildfire scored a 264, warranting a “very unhealthy” designation ­- by far the worst in the nine-county Bay Area. If the air quality score rises above 300, it is considered hazardous to people’s health.

“The air quality in the far North Bay is very serious,” said Kristine Roselius, spokeswoman for the air district. “Certainly stay away from the smoke as much as possible, or go upwind from it, or get out of the area if you’re particularly sensitive. We realize that’s not easy with power shut-offs and evacuations and everything else.”

The North Bay’s conditions Monday rivaled those of last November, when smoke from the Camp fire blew west and settled over cities around the Bay Area, Roselius said. Starting Nov. 8, the entire region experienced 14 days of bad air quality. In Sonoma County, scores hit 220 in Sebastopol, 265 in Santa Rosa and a high of 405 in Healdsburg, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality index.

Seniors, children and those with respiratory conditions are especially vulnerable. The effects of breathing the smoky, particulate-filled air range from itchy, scratchy throat, watery eyes and headache, to possible asthma attacks, according to the American Lung Association.

At Friedman’s Home Improvement in Santa Rosa, N95 respirator masks are the most popular item, said Angela Basher, the store manager. They are designed to filter out 95% of airborne particles.

Basher, who was wearing one of the masks while she worked in the store, said it was worth the inconvenience to wear it for a few days if it meant avoiding respiratory issues down the road.

By Monday at 5 p.m., the store sold three pallets of the masks, or nearly 5,000, 20-count packs.

“We went through them pretty quick,” said Basher, who expected more to arrive Tuesday. “Sadly it’s not our first rodeo.”

Miles Sarvis-Wilburn, 33, and Oona Risling-Sholl, 38, of Santa Rosa filled a handbasket with as many as they could carry, surprised that local stores still had respirator masks available. During the Tubbs fire two years ago, the married couple saw a need in lower-income neighborhoods and homeless encampments where they distributed masks, food and water.

They also hosted a clinic to teach people how to alter N95 masks for children because the standard size is too large, said Sarvis-Wilburn, program director of the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association.

“We saw a lot of people in poorer neighborhoods and homeless encampments that were on their own when the last (fires) came through,” said Risling-Sholl, an artist. “There were no resources for them, or if there were, they had no car (to get there). We just wanted to do something good for our community.”

How beneficial the masks are is another matter. Sonoma County’s Department of Health Services does not give the N95 mask its stamp of approval in part because people often don’t wear them with a proper fit over their face. The masks are not suitable for seniors with health issues nor children 18 and under, said Kim Caldewey, a department spokeswoman.

Instead, she said, the best advice is to stay indoors with the doors and windows shut, and ideally with an air purifier made for the size of the room. For people who still feel compelled to travel, the best recommendation is to keep car windows rolled up and run air conditioning with the feature that recycles air in the vehicle rather than pulling it in from outside.

“If you smell smoke, it’s an indicator the air is not good quality,” said Caldewey. “This is not a time to really be out and about. It’s a time to stay safe.”

The air district followed Monday’s regional “Spare the Air” alert with another Tuesday before offshore winds were projected to help move Kincade fire smoke back over the Pacific Ocean.

Determining how many days the poor air will hang around is difficult, because forecasters with the air district are only able to predict about a day out. The air conditions depend not only on weather patterns but on fire containment levels, which the district cannot reliably predict, Roselius said.

Supervisor Shirlee Zane, who serves on the air district board, said Sonoma County Fire District Chief Mark Heine told her the air quality in the Windsor area Monday was much improved from the weekend firefight because of the shifting gusts. She hoped more high winds predicted to begin Tuesday morning might help clear the smoke from the area and also crossed her fingers the haze would be gone for good by later in the week.

“I think tomorrow we’ll get some relief and maybe we can even get outside to walk the dog, if it’s not too hot,” she said Monday. “We’re probably in for another couple days of bad air quality, but hopefully not on Halloween for all the kids.”