LAKE COUNTY ? The smoke and haze that moved in Wednesday night as people were going home for the day will begin to dissipate thanks to a westerly wind, authorities say.
Two fires were initially believed to have contributed to the blanket of smoke that engulfed the county, including the Moonlight Fire in Quincy, about 195 miles northeast of Lakeport, and what Cal Fire is now calling the Lick Fire in Morgan Hill, 185 miles southeast. Deputy Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gerhart said the Moonlight Fire was the primary cause.
The Moonlight Fire in Plumas County had consumed 28,000 acres and was only eight percent contained as of 6 a.m. Thursday morning, according to a Cal Fire update. The Licks Fire, which is not believed to have contributed much to the smoky haze in Lake County, had burned 19,000 acres as of 7 a.m. Thursday morning and was 25 percent contained.
“We have northeast winds, and what happened is that as that fire expanded from Monday on through today, the smoke has traveled down into the Sacramento Valley, and the easterly winds have maintained it on the western side of the Sacramento Valley. Because it”s on that western side, that”s the east side of the Lake County air basin, ? as it builds up, as it goes down that valley it has worked its way up and over (the ridge) with the east winds pushing it,” Gerhart explained.
As of Thursday afternoon, Gerhart said the smoke had traveled down to the Bay Area and out onto the Pacific Ocean, but a change of wind direction was blowing the smoke back onshore.
A westerly wind that picked up Thursday afternoon at about 4 p.m. will help push the smoke out of Lake County”s air basin, according to Gerhart. Although it may take a while, Gerhart said at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday that he was hoping it would dissipate in the next 12 hours.
And while it may appear that the county”s air quality has taken a ding, Gerhart said none of the standards that the county”s Air Quality Control District looks at were exceeded. The two major factors in this case are visibility and ozone levels, Gerhart explained.
An initial reading indicated that the county”s visibility standard may have been exceeded, but Gerhart explained that measurements as of Thursday afternoon indicated that no air quality standards were broken. The visibility standard is 23 miles, and Gerhart reported that the measurements showed Lake County”s air was at 50 percent of that. Ozone levels, whose threshold is at 90 parts per billion, were at 50 parts per billion, just more than 50 percent of the standard.
“Based on our measurements so far we have not exceeded any health-based air quality standards,” said Gerhart, adding that caution is none the less advisable.
“Although no health standards have been exceeded, it is suggested that persons sensitive to respiratory irritants or who have a respiratory illness stay indoors and avoid unnecessary exercise.”
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
