Smoke from Rough fire smothers Clovis-Fresno area

The Rough fire grew by several thousand acres overnight and consumed a total of 97,884 acres by Tuesday morning, officials said.

But its biggest impact was on air quality on the central San Joaquin Valley floor.

Smoke as thick as fog shrouded Clovis and surrounding foothill communities, forcing schoolchildren indoors.

Air quality authorities advised people to stay inside if they smelled smoke – a scent Clovis residents awakened to this past weekend holiday and at the start of the work week.

Soot levels from the Rough fire increased to dangerous levels in Clovis, where the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District has a monitor to track pollution levels.

The pollution, known as PM-2.5, is particularly harmful to children, the elderly and people with lung or heart problems. The spike in Clovis was considered to be harmful even for healthy people.

“We were lucky most of the summer because wind conditions prevented this kind of spike,” said Seyed Sadredin, executive director of the air pollution control district. “But that has changed. People need to take protective measures.”

Clovis Unified School District said that recesses at all schools were canceled, as well as physical education classes and outdoor activities.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and adjust activities accordingly throughout the week,” said district spokeswoman Kelly Avants.

Clovis Unified athletic directors were monitoring air quality and giving students water breaks every 10 minutes, athletic directors said.

Sierra Unified School District, based in Auberry, took similar protective action.

Janelle Mehling, assistant superintendent of business services, said the smoke “looks like fog.”

Mehling, who lives in the foothills, said the air quality was worse during the weekend, but Tuesday was only slightly better. “It just looks and feels horrible.”

The Chawanakee Unified School District in North Fork, which also placed restriction on recess and outdoor activities, is monitoring students who have asthma, said Superintendent Darren Sylvia.

The students aren’t able to escape the smoke at home or at school, he said.

Fresno Unified School District also restricted recesses and outdoor activities Tuesday afternoon and was monitoring air quality for sporting activities.

Visits to the doctor’s office

Doctors at Kaiser Permanente-Fresno outpatient clinics have seen more children with asthma who need breathing treatments, said Michelle Hanrahan, assistant medical group administrator.

“It seems to be the children who are affected at the moment,” Hanrahan said.

Air quality for the central San Joaquin Valley was listed as unhealthy for those with sensitive conditions in Fresno, Tulare and Madera counties. And adults with lung problems have had flare-ups.

Adults and children were showing up at the Baz Allergy, Asthma and Sinus Center at Herndon and Fowler avenues in Clovis on Tuesday.

Dr. David Pettigrew had treated half a dozen patients for asthma problems by mid-afternoon. One was a 10-year-old who had been kept inside at school but had an asthma episode walking home after school, he said. “The air is particularly atrocious,” he said. “It’s caustic to the lungs and nose.”

Maurice Celedon-Castro has had asthma for about 30 years and tries to keep it under control, but he had to go to an urgent-care clinic Monday. “I had my medication and I was taking it, but it felt like the air was really thick,” he said.

Celedon-Castro, of Fresno, said he stayed indoors at work and at home, but it was difficult to escape the tiny soot particles that irritate his lungs. “This is one of the worst times I’ve had,” he said.

Dr. Vipul Jain, a UCSF-Fresno associate professor and medical director of the chronic lung diseases program, expects to see more pulmonary patients this week. The air district has warned that smoky conditions will continue.“The worst is yet to come,” Jain said.

And the doctor’s advice for patients who live in the mountains, where smoke is thickest: “I would get out.”

Weather impact

A double whammy of soot and possible ozone spikes is expected to continue at least until Saturday, meteorologists said. In addition to smoke, wildfires also create ozone-making gases called oxides of nitrogen.

The air quality problems began over the weekend when a high pressure system formed. That system will remain over California, and make for high temperatures over 100 degrees through the weekend, forecasters say. Today’s high in Fresno is to be 104 degrees; Thursday will be 105 and Friday 106 degrees.

The high pressure also created a breeze blowing from east to west, meteorologists said. Now smoke and other polluting gases are streaming into the Valley.

The smoke had largely stayed away from Valley cities in August as wind patterns trapped it in the foothills. After the change in wind direction, a pall of smoke drifted into Clovis. People noticed the smell of smoke in Fresno, too.

Visalia and Porterville also recorded increases in soot pollution Monday evening, said meteorologist Shawn Ferreria of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. Foothill communities to the north, such as Auberry, have been harder hit, too.

“We haven’t seen a lot of this high pressure pattern this summer,” he said. “But it is very typical for this area.”

Smoke from a wildfire usually moves downslope in the evening as temperatures drop. Ferreria said longer evenings in late summer give the smoke more time to spread into cities.

In the afternoons, the smoke often rises, clearing the way for sunshine and possible ozone spikes.

But if the smoke hangs around in the afternoon, it can actually reduce the chances of high ozone readings by blocking some sunshine. Ozone, which attacks the lungs, needs sunshine to form.

As a result of the fire, all campgrounds in Kings Canyon National Park are closed until further notice.

Nearly 2,000 firefighters and allied personnel are fighting the fire, currently the largest in California.

A firefighter was injured Monday morning while working as part of a night shift crew in the Converse Basin. He is “doing OK,” Forest Service spokeswoman Brenda Bowen said Tuesday afternoon. The firefighter, who is in stable condition, has requested that his identity and his crew assignment not be released, she said.

The firefighter was with a crew looking for spot fires, Bowen said. “We do not have the specifics of exactly what happened at that time, other than he did receive burns.” A special team will be looking at the events surrounding the incident, she said.

Because of the changing nature of the fire, officials are evacuating people north of the intersection of Highway 180 and Millwood Road in Dunlap, specifically an area bounded by U.S. Forest Service Road 12S01 and Sampson Flat Road to the south and Crabtree to the north; and U.S. Forest Service Road and 12S19 to the west and Cherry Gap (U.S. Forest Service Road 13S03 and Highway 180) to the east.

The Red Cross set up a shelter in Sanger to assist evacuees, but no one needed it, so it was closed Tuesday afternoon. It can be re-activated as needed.

Most of the area burning is in the Sierra National Forest, where the fire started July 31 with a lightning strike five miles north of Hume Lake in the Kings River Drainage. However, about 37,000 acres are on fire in the Sequoia National Forest, and more than 2,000 acres are burning in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park.

The fire stretches north of Cedar Grove, Rough fire spokesman Andy Isolano said Monday. But it is heading northeast, away from the Kings River. Fire crews are trying to steer it up into the granite canyon.

Bee staff writers Jim Guy, Mark Grossi, Nick Giannandrea and Andrea Castillo contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 8:23 AM with the headline "Smoke from Rough fire smothers Clovis-Fresno area."