Update: Poor air quality prompts youth sports cancellations; California Classic goes on
Two wildfires burning in the Sierra Nevada southeast of Fresno continue to billow smoke into the San Joaquin Valley air basin – delivering an unpleasant pea soup atmosphere and prompting continued poor air quality warnings.
The Windy Fire had grown to 92,473 acres as of Sunday morning, with an increase of 510 acres from Saturday evening, but containment had reached 56%, according to the latest update.
As of Saturday evening, containment for the Windy fire stood at 52%.
Meanwhile, the KNP Complex fire had burned through 62,761 acres as of Sunday morning, according to the latest update. Containment was at 20%. (One update by National Park officials incorrectly stated the acreage as 67,761).
“Poor overnight recovery allowed for an early start to the burn day,” National Park officials said in the update. “Very active to extreme fire behavior was observed around the fire.”
There was movement to the north, east and south of the KNP Complex fire.
“High pressure continues to hold smoke in place across the fire,” the update says.
Firefighters remain in the communities of Three Rivers and Ash Mountain, National Park officials said.
“Additional federal, state, and local resources are arriving, supporting firefighting efforts and being placed where needed,” officials said. “Aviation assets are available to support ground personnel as smoke and visibility permits.”
With both fires burning, the air quality in Fresno County, and in the Central Valley, remained unchanged and unhealthy on Sunday morning. The air quality forecast for Fresno County on Sunday was at the red level, which is considered unhealthy.
The PurpleAir air quality network showed readings exceeding 200 AQI in north Fresno and southern Madera County.
Residents are advised to avoid outdoor exercise, close their windows to avoid outdoor air, run an air purifier, and wear a mask when going outdoors.
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District on Sept. 30 issued an air quality alert due to wildfire smoke affecting the central San Joaquin Valley. The alert remains in place and it’s expected to be lifted on Monday.
Particulate matter can trigger asthma attacks, aggravate chronic bronchitis, and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
“Literally no amount of exposure is safe,” Marshall Burke, an associate professor of earth system science for Stanford University, told The Bee on Friday. “There’s no magic threshold under which we’re OK and beyond which we’re in trouble. The lesson is that any amount is bad. And the more you get the worse it is.”
Youth soccer canceled; California Classic a go
Mckay Kozielski, one of the directors with CenCal Cosmos Soccer Club, a youth soccer organization in Fresno, said CenCal Cosmos canceled anywhere from 16 to 24 home soccer games Saturday and Sunday due to the unhealthy air quality.
Kozielski said he and other directors use a real-time tool to assess the air quality. He said it was “clearly not safe for young children” to take part in outdoor activities.
The Sanger Youth Soccer League also announced to parents on Facebook that it was canceling games this weekend due to the bad air quality.
But other events carried on during the weekend, including on Sunday, despite the unhealthy air quality due to the wildfire smoke, according to Kevin Hall, a longtime air quality activist.
Hall said events organized by California Classic Weekend ignored the air quality alert, with a series of outdoor events on Saturday and Sunday in Fresno. The events included a 13-mile race through downtown early Sunday.
Hall said he went to downtown before the race began and tried to talked to one of the directors involved in the events, but he wasn’t interested in talking. He said hundreds of people were taking part in the race.
“There was a large degree of ignorance,” Hall said on Sunday. “It’s just so unbelievably horrific. It’s unconscionable.”
Hall said the actions of the events carrying on despite the air quality alert is a failure of the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District for not having the authority to cancel events. He also described it as a “failed message” by the district and Fresno County Public Health for failing to inform residents about the dangers of bad air.
He also placed blame on the event organizers.
“The event organizer has a responsibility,” he said. “They failed to inform people.”
A phone number listed on the California Classic Weekend Facebook page said it wasn’t taking calls at this time.
Changes expected Tuesday
Dan Harty, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Hanford, said there’s a high pressure system that leads to light wind flow, causing the wildfire smoke to linger as there’s “no strong wind to push it out.”
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District’s air quality alert is expected to remain in place through 11 a.m. Monday.
Harty said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the air quality alert gets extended.
Though, he said, some relief is on the way.
“By Tuesday we start to see a system move through to give us a little bit of improvement,” he said Sunday morning.
With that, temperatures will began to cool down.
A high of 92 degrees is forecast for Sunday, about 7 degrees above normal, Harty said. A high of 91 is expected for Monday.
“We will see a cooling trend during the week,” he said. “Maybe by the end of the week.”
Temperatures could be in the upper 60s by the end of the week, if the area sees some precipitation, Harty said. But it won’t be too cold overnight, with temperatures reaching about 50 degrees by Friday night.
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 9:31 AM.
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