The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has issued Spare the Air alerts for Thursday and Friday due to smoke from numerous wildfires around Northern California and further north in Oregon and Washington that continues to come into the region.
The air district had previously issued air quality advisories for the two days but had said it did not expect air quality in the region to be bad enough to exceed federal standards and prompt the more serious Spare the Air alert, during which wood burning is banned both indoors and outdoors.
“There’s a huge smoke plume over the Bay Area … it had been trickling down a little bit but mostly staying healthy at ground level,” air district spokesman Aaron Richardson said. “The fires everywhere have just kicked up so much yesterday and today, so there are higher levels than expected.”
The air quality wasn’t exceeding federal health levels in most of the region as of midday Thursday but was expected to deteriorate as the day goes along, Richardson said.
If people smell smoke, they should stay inside with windows and doors closed, and set their air conditioning or car vent systems to recirculate air to prevent outside air from coming inside their building or vehicle.
The air district will monitor air quality in the region and determine if more Spare the Air alerts will be necessary over the weekend, but Richardson said there is “some hope there will be a wind shift and a little bit of a system coming in” that will push the smoke out of the Bay Area.
Meaningless! Do these clowns really think anyone will change their plans or behavior because the air isn’t fit to breathe. People have to work (Well, the responsible ones, anyway.), and those who have the day off or work from home will run errands or play. Those who’ve become dependent on handouts from the Feds and state will just do their regular thing, without regard to the quality of the air.
This seems misguided to me. Don’t get me wrong as I am no fan of smoke, but will this make any real difference at all? Just think of the amount of smoke being introduced to the atmosphere with all these fires, and the infinitesimally small amount, by comparison, we would produce by using wood in a fireplace. Plus it is not cool enough for indoor fires so probably not too many fireplaces being used. Around here outdoor fire pits are usually natural gas fired. So what’s the point? Am I missing something?