Smoke from wildfires blankets Bay Area, causes air quality to exceed federal health standards
Smoke image via MODIS-TERRA satellite Sept. 1., 2017
The raging wildfires in California and Oregon over the last several days, along with triple-digit temperatures, have been blanketing the Bay Area in smoke and causing several days of unhealthy air quality.
Bay Area Air District Quality spokesman Ralph Bormann told KTVU that beginning on Friday, there were at least a dozen locations throughout the Bay Area that had exceeded state and federal health standards in terms of ozone levels and fine particulate pollution.
Here's the breakdown of the number of times the air quality exceeded federal health standards:
Thursday: Five times for ozone.
Friday: Eleven times for ozone, 13 times for particulate matter.
Saturday: 11 times for ozone, four for particulate matter.
Sunday: Three times for ozone, 11 for particulate matter.
Bormann said Monday's numbers were not yet in, as tabulations are figured out in the evening.
The smoke billowing over the region came from more than a dozen wildfires being battled over the weekend. Some of the largest fires include the La Tuna brush fire in Los Angeles and the Helena Fire in Trinity County. Local fires, such as a Gilroy vegetation fire, were also adding to the smoky skies.
CalFire crews have attacked more than 4,600 fires so far this year, which have scored more than 219,000 acres.
Because of the smoke, the air quality district issued a smoke advisory over the weekend, and a 14th Spare the Air alert was issued for Monday.