Fresno isn’t only city in California breathing smoky air — and thank goodness for that
A couple months ago, when breathing outside wasn’t such a health risk, I allowed myself a little rare gloating about Fresno’s notoriously poor air quality.
Both the Bay Area and Sacramento were inundated with smoke from the Dixie Fire, which had yet to drift south into the central San Joaquin Valley. And judging by the number of dire headlines produced by media outlets in those regions, you’d have thought residents there were staring down the apocalypse.
“Good,” I thought to myself. “About time those folks get a taste of Mother Nature’s tailpipe.”
Today all traces of that smugness are gone and replaced by a persistent hack. While central San Joaquin Valley and foothill residents endure days upon days of hazardous breathing conditions caused by the KNP Complex and Windy fires engulfing the southern Sierra Nevadas, the Bay Area and Sacramento are relatively smoke-free.
Well … cough … lucky … cough … them.
However, I have discovered a bit of encouraging news — and not just the storm system forecast to bring cooler temperatures and much-needed light precipitation to our burning forests by Thursday afternoon.
Nope. This encouraging news was contained in a recent report by NPR and Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab on how smoke from California’s wildfires is choking the rest of the country.
In some ways, the “Dangerous Air” report confirms what we already know: That Fresno residents faced more “smoke days” between 2009-13 and 2016-20 than those in any major U.S. city except one. (It was a surprise to learn Sacramento is No. 1.)
On average, the study found, Fresno-area residents were exposed to hazardous wildfire smoke between eight to 10 weeks per year since 2016. (The 93619 ZIP code, which includes parts of northeast Fresno, all of north Clovis and extends to the foothills, is listed in the 10 or more weeks category.)
Smoky air more than just Fresno’s problem
Again, this confirms our lived experience. As do findings that California’s smoky air days have become more numerous over the past decade, plus the health impacts as illustrated by a spike in federally funded prescriptions for asthma medication.
So where’s the encouraging part? It’s in the realization that unlike our normal bad air, the kind caused by smog, the bad air caused by wildfires is not mainly a Fresno nor a central San Joaquin Valley problem.
And that, friends, is crucial. Because it means Fresno and Valley residents, as well as our elected representatives in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., aren’t lone voices howling into a wind tunnel. Maybe something will actually get done.
While Sacramento and Fresno are the top two cities for “smoke days” (both averaged more than 55 per year between 2016-20 according to the study), the Bay Area is quickly closing the gap. From 2009-13, San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland each experienced fewer than 10 annual “smoke days.” But between 2016-20, that number rose to over 40 in all three cities That’s a 400% increase.
This isn’t simply a case of misery loving company. It’s about critical masses demanding action. Even more than Los Angeles, the Bay Area remains California’s most politically powerful region. (It’s no coincidence the Speaker of the House represents San Francisco and the state’s last two governors were mayors of San Francisco and Oakland.) Meaning if Fresnans wish to stop breathing smoky air for two months every September and October, we’ll need the help of Bay Area lawmakers.
Bay Area congressman: ‘No option but to act’
Lawmakers such as Rep. Ro Khanna of San Jose, who chairs the U.S. House Oversight Subcommittee on Environment.
“This investigation confirms what we’ve known for years: As wildfires become more frequent due to climate change, the health of our communities will suffer,” Khanna said in a statement to NPR concerning the “Deadly Air” report.
“I will have a hearing on wildfires, smoke pollution, and commercial logging practices that may be making the problem worse. This is a matter of public health, environmental justice, and Congress has no option but to act.”
Since nearly 58% of California’s forests are managed by the federal government (compared with 39% under private ownership and 3% managed by the state), wildfires and the smoke they cause are indeed a Congressional responsibility.
In August, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the U.S. Forest Service signed a memorandum of understanding that contained a pledge to provide fire prevention work to 1 million acres of forest annually by 2025 — 500,000 apiece by Cal Fire and the Forest Service.
At present, however, the Forest Service remains nowhere near that total and requires significantly more funding and resources to get there. That’s where support from Congress comes in.
Residents of Fresno and neighboring Valley cities may experience more days of hazardous wildfire smoke than other regions of California, but at least we’re not in this alone. That by itself provides some hope it won’t be this way forever.
