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The thick layer of smoke blanketing the Bay Area eased off slightly Saturday, but still remained at dangerously unhealthy levels across the entire region as the state’s biggest fire in history continued to grow.
The August Complex Fire has burned through about 875,000 acres of land across Mendocino National Forest, almost double the size of the next-largest fire ever recorded and yet constituting just one of the many blazes unfurling smoke across the state.
From Napa to the South Bay, every single air unofficial quality monitor hovered in the “red” or unhealthy zone Saturday, according to the Bay Area Air Management Quality District. A new Spare the Air Alert was issued through Monday, marking the 28th consecutive day of alerts and doubling the 14-day record set during the 2018 Camp Fire.
But the air was less smoke-choked than Friday, when many cities in the East and North Bay were marked as “purple,” or very unhealthy.
“Everything is relative,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Ryan Walbrun. “Compared to a few days ago, it’s improved in a few areas.”
All week, smoke from dozens of fires has poured into the Bay Area, blocking out the sun, covering cars with fine ash and papering the sky with an eerie orange hue. Much of the pall originates from the Dolan Fire in Big Sur, along with the Creek Fire northeast of Fresno and the Sequoia Fire in Sequoia National Forest, Walbrun said.
Up in Mendocino, the plumes of smoke have been a boon for firefighters, cooling ground temperatures and slowing the flames’ spread. On Saturday, crews worked to strengthen fire lines near Lake Pillsbury and near cabins and campgrounds surrounding the Eel River and Bauer Ridge, said Jennifer Diamond, a spokeswoman for the Great Basin fire management team.
“When the smoke is present, it does help reduce the fire activity a little bit — but when it leaves, they expect there to be more active fire behavior,” Diamond said.
The haze meanwhile continued cloaking the roads Saturday, limiting visibility to less than a mile at the San Francisco and San Jose airports and just a quarter-mile in Oakland, according to the National Weather Service.
Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose officials all opened respite centers at libraries, child care facilities and community centers for people to catch a breath throughout the weekend. Health officials recommend staying indoors if possible with the windows shut, and setting air conditioning units in cars and homes to “recirculation” to avoid unwittingly pulling the smoke inside.
The next few days are unfortunately forecast to feel much the same. While offshore winds generally offer a reprieve, another batch of smoke is resting above the water to the west, Walbrun said — meaning that new winds could actually make air quality worse, not better.
Starting Monday and Tuesday, however, the weather service expects a wind current to head toward the bay from the farther-flung, clearer-sky southwest, perhaps forcing away some of the haze.
Another upshot is that the smoke has helped stave off higher temperatures beyond the active fire zones, cooling off a region that saw record-breaking highs just a few weeks ago. Thermometers won’t crack beyond the mid-70s this weekend across most of the region, and some inland areas with a thick marine layer will be even cooler, in the 60s, Walbrun said.
But don’t expect the skies to look much different just yet.
“There’s still a lot of smoke coming from fires in all directions,” Walbrun said.
