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With heavy smoke from the wildfires in Butte County drifting across the region, the Bay Area’s poor air quality is expected to remain at harmful levels through the week and possibly into next, so all residents are being advised to stay inside with doors closed and windows shut.
“We’re expecting unhealthy air quality through Friday at the very least,” said Kristine Roselius, spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “The air-quality index is in the unhealthy range, which is quite unusual in the Bay Area.”
Roselius added that her agency’s admonishment against being outdoors doesn’t mean that relief is expected Friday, only that it’s as far as experts are comfortable with estimating air quality given the unpredictable nature of wildfires, in this case the historically deadly Camp Fire burning in Butte County.
“There are too many variables. We don’t know if the fire will get worse or better,” she said. “We’re recommending everyone stay indoors with windows and doors closed. It’s impacting everyone. I’m hearing from a lot of healthy people with watery itchy eyes, a sore throat, and a cough.”
According to the Air Quality Index, pollution levels between 150 and 200 are classified as “unhealthy” and serious enough that healthy people will suffer some ill effects from breathing the air. Much of the North and East Bay has been rated between 150 and 200 since Friday. The South Bay and a small number of locations in the North Bay were rated below that range, but still registered as “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” meaning children and people with underlying respiratory conditions, such as asthma and COPD, are vulnerable to getting sick by prolonged exposure to the air.
A Winter Spare the Air alert has been issued through Friday, making it illegal, with few exceptions, to burn wood and other solid fuels in a fireplace, wood stove or outdoor fire pit.
The National Weather Service is not predicting any significant shift in the smoky conditions of the region until around when the Thanksgiving holiday arrives, even with some progress expected this week.
“Three or four days out, it should start to improve. We’ll see small shifts to help air quality,” said Steve Anderson, a forecaster with the NWS San Francisco Bay Area office in Monterey. “But the biggest weather pattern shift will be in the middle of next week, when a trough of low pressure will push the smoke to Nevada and Oregon.”
That smoke dissipation could be accompanied by a modest chance of showers early next week, and more forecast for Thanksgiving and beyond.
Most schools were closed in observance of the Veterans Day holiday, but there was no sign Monday of any broad directives to curtail or cancel classes because of the unhealthy air. Several outdoor events, from half marathons to a myriad of high school football games, have been cancelled because of the poor air quality.
The North Coast Section has postponed its football playoff games until at least Saturday, and a similar scenario is being evaluated by the Central Coast Section, though air quality in the South Bay, while compromised, is not as bad as it is in the North and East Bay.
It was not immediately clear whether the poor air quality has led to an increase in people seeking medical treatment for respiratory problems. Multiple county hospitals and health-care systems in the region contacted by this news organization either did not have information about any upticks in respiratory patients or did not have anyone available for comment because of the Veterans Day holiday.
The risks posed by the air pollution aren’t limited to respiratory distress, said Sharon Chinthrajah, a pulmonologist and allergist with Stanford Health Care.
“In your eyes you can get eye irritation, if you’re breathing it in through your nose and your mouth you can get a sore throat, you can kind of get nasal congestion or sinus irritation,” Chinthrajah said. “You can get headaches from this, (and) you can feel just a little more fatigued or tired.”
She mentioned other well-known home remedies and defenses including putting damp towels at the bases of doorway to help keep smoke out, and drinking plenty of water to help your body flush out the particles and toxins absorbed from the dirty air.
For those who must brave the air because of necessity, lack of shelter, or other reasons, Roselius said motorists should set their cars to re-circulate air, and that respirator face masks — rated N95 or better — can help breathing by filtering soot from the air. Alas, they don’t help children, whose faces are too small for the masks, or people with beards, since facial hair prevents the necessary skin seal to make them effective.
It should be noted the masks are meant for one-time use because once you’ve removed one, reforming the seal is difficult or unlikely. Even then, N95 masks have been in short supply in the most fire- and smoke-affected areas in the state. Those who cannot find one at a retail store or afford one can turn to a limited number of public avenues to get a mask; a list has been curated online by the state Office of Emergency Services at oesnews.com/breathe-easy-with-an-n95-particulate-mask-during-smokey-days.
But masked or not, Roselius said, the best tack is to avoid the compromised air altogether, since it’s now at a level where no one can safely endure it.
“If people smell smoke, they should stay indoors,” she said. “It really can impact all of us at this point.”
Staff writers Darren Sabedra and Joseph Geha contributed to this report.
