Air District Warns Air Quality Worsening In Bay Area

The air quality in Vallejo, Benicia, Napa and much of the Bay Area continues to worsen as smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning throughout Northern California continues to blanket the region, stimulating air quality management to issue an advisory.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District in California has released a forecast in which it stated that low-quality air would continue to be present across the Bay area on Thursday as smoke continues to linger from wildfires in the state.

The latest forecast by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, its first unhealthy air forecast in years, predicts unhealthy air throughout Thursday. The management urges people to stay indoors and avoid strenuous outdoor activity if possible, as breathing in toxic air can be very dangerous.

Public health officials warn the air quality shows a serious health threat to some. It can irritate eyes and airways, causing coughing, scratchy throats and irritated sinuses. Especially children and the elderly, and those with heart and lung disease, are at increased risk of having health troubles.

They also advised people to exercise indoors instead of outdoors. Even healthy people in Bay Area are advised to use caution until the smoky conditions are alleviated.

The latest, very rare, forecast of unhealthy air quality is a more severe forecast that the moderate air quality forecasted a few days ago. The nine-county air district on Wednesday recorded evaluated levels of particulate matter throughout the Bay Area, particularly in northern and eastern parts of the region. Vallejo, Benicia and Napa reported the highest readings.

"This is an unusual event for dirty air," said Ralph Boorman, a spokesman for the nine-county air district. "We haven't seen PM (soot) readings like this for years."

"There are so many fires and so much smoke out there that we're going to see elevated levels of particulate matter," said Kristine Roselius, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.

While the fire crews are continuously working to control the wild fires, the smoke is expected to linger for the days to come. The fire fighters said there are a number of wild fires blazing across Northern California, and they find it nearly impossible to control the wide-spread fire anytime soon.

"The trail of smoke is pretty far," said Brian Tentinger, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Monterey. "Winds are blowing to the south, blowing the smoke down the coast and into the Bay Area."