I live 25 miles up the road from Big Sur the smell of smoke is especially intense the last couple of days. Ran into a couple friends at sushi last night, one of their houses burned down Monday.
I looked outside the window yesterday and saw the red sun. I thought to myself "Oh...end of the world is coming...but I haven't had Shannon's cupcakes yet...why can't it wait til after Saturday "
The particulate has been KILLING me... I have chronic bronchitis, and the smoke has been setting me off in long coughing fits, and my eyes are itchy and watery. I've been using my respirator to cope at home, and thank goodness for AC at work to help calm me down a bit. Ugh... I want it to rain to get all the particulate out of the air!!!
I'm in bend, oregon and the air is almost the same on the outskirts. I love campfires but enough is enough.
I was in the East Bay yesterday and couldn't believe how much worse it was than in SF. I was amazed that I didn't have a wheezing attack, although my sinuses did clog up. It looked like it was a lot worse east of the Berkeley/Oakland hills. I've never seen smog/smoke that thick in my entire life in the Bay Area. Checked some NASA satellite maps ... it's amazing how many fires there are throughout the state. Many more than are being reported by any one news outlet. What a relief to return to the Richmond District of SF last night ... I'll take fog over smog any day. Loco so sorry to hear you're suffering because of this. I have asthma sometimes and totally understand how much it sucks. Make sure you have your inhaler with you!
Worst part of it is that I have to chauffeur my in-laws to a wedding in Sacramento tomorrow, so I'll be heading deeper into the miasma of smoke... sigh... (cough cough...wheeze)
The air is horrible here in Fresno as well. Can't even see the mountains. And I have asthma pretty bad, but it doesn't seem to be affecting me too badly. Had a worse time at the beginning of the Spring with all the pollen. Seems like the whole state is going up like a tinder box. There are firefighters from all over the state, and surrounding states, passing through on their way to or from the fires.
My friends said driving down from Mendo to SF Thursday, some areas were almost white-out - Boonville was particularly thick. Coming back up Sunday it was a lot better, but the smell was everywhere. Nice seeing all the little gestures - The Boonville ice cream parlor giving free scoops to firefighers, lots of 'Thanks' signs to them, etc. Up here, on the coast there's only a hint of smoke smell, but just 20 or 30 minutes inland it's still strong and visible. 38,000 acres burning just in this county, some of the fires they are estimating won't be controlled till August. If the fires are this bad now, I can't even imagine August ... Hope no BASKers have homes at risk ...
My parents live in Philo and they said the smoke has started to disapate...they are tring not to go outside. I just saw in the PD that one of the Boonville voluteer fire fighters died. Sad stuff. We've been getting lots of smoke here in San Luis Obispo because of the fire in Big Sur and in Goleta. I went to swim last week and the pool was reflecting brown from the sky. Needless to say, I left.
