Unhealthy Air From Wildfire Smoke Continues To Choke Bay Area
SAN FRANCSICO (CBS SF) -- Smoke from the Glass Fire and other Northern California wildfires continued to blanket the Bay Area Friday, sending air quality index readings into the "unhealthy" category.
As of Friday afternoon, AQI readings in San Francisco, the South Bay and the East Bay ranged in the area of 155-175. Closer to the fire in the North Bay, readings were even higher, with Napa hitting a reading of 250.
Anticipating continued issues with wildfire smoke, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Thursday extended an ongoing Spare the Air alert into next week.
Online Air Quality Resources:
- Bay Area Air Quality Management District
- BAAQMD Current Air Quality
- EPA AirNow
- Purple Air – A good way to track trends in air quality related to particulate matter, but the sensors may register higher numbers than the air actual air quality.
"The Bay Area will experience significant smoke impacts into next week as the Glass Fire continues to burn in the North Bay," said Jack Brodbent of the Air District.
Since mid-August, the Bay Area has been under seemingly constant Spare the Air alerts, due to a series of massive wildfires that have been burning in the region. The fires prompted officials to declare alerts for a record 30 consecutive days from August 19th through September 18th.
Under a Spare the Air alert, the burning of wood, manufactured fire logs or any other solid fuel is banned, both indoors and outdoors.
The current Heat Advisory in the Bay Area is expected to expire at 8 p.m. Friday night will be mostly clear before becoming partly cloudy. Areas of haze and smoke are likely to persist, especially in the North Bay. Lows will be around 60 degrees with west winds clocking in at 10 to 20 mph.
