San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Winds may push smoke from Bay Area
Smoke from the Kincade Fire may be pushed out of the Bay Area with the help of winds rolling through the region, potentially leading to good air quality Sunday, officials said.
Air quality throughout the Bay Area was largely rated “moderate” on Saturday, with localized places that were “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” said Walter Wallace, a spokesman with Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Air quality was worst near the Kincade Fire in northeastern Sonoma County, he said.
Powerful winds, however, were expected to pick up Saturday night and peak early Sunday. The winds are expected to be most intense at higher elevations, with gusts of up to 80 mph. Winds in urban areas could hit 25 to 45 mph, the weather service said.
Air quality officials said the winds may push the smoke away from the Bay Area, improving the air quality even as they raise the threat of wildfires.
“There is a catch22,” Wallace said. “With more winds, it becomes more complex for the fire to be fought, and could make the fire last longer.”
The weather service said smoke was reported Saturday in the Bay Area from as low as 1,900 feet to as high as 6,000 feet.
“The smoke can cause issues” for airplane pilots making visual approaches for landings, the weather service tweeted.
Most flights at San Francisco and Oakland international airports were on time Saturday. Keonnis Taylor, a spokeswoman for Oakland airport, told The Chronicle that no problems were expected.
At Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport, which is less than 20 miles from the Kincade Fire, takeoffs and landings were not affected.
“If wind shifts we may have some impacts if visibility drops too low,” airport manager Jon Stout said by email. “Don’t anticipate that at this time.”
Officials advised people to stay indoors if they smell smoke. They also caution against wearing masks in the hopes of blocking out particles.
“Masks may not be the answer for a lot of people,” Dr. Jan Gurley, director of public health emergency preparedness and response with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, told The Chronicle in September. “We reach for them because they’re easy, and sometimes they make you feel a little better.
But there are no substitutes for getting to where the air is clean.”
N95 masks — designed to filter out particles — may be especially problematic for people with respiratory conditions like asthma, because they make it harder to breathe.
Some clean indoor spaces, however, may be harder to find given the impending blackouts, because air purifiers need power to run. Public spaces that are set up to have air conditioning and clean air during heat events will also not be able to stay cool.
Kate Galbraith is the San Francisco Chronicle’s assistant business editor. Lauren Hernandez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. @Email: kgalbraith@sfchronicle.com, lauren.hernandez@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @kategalbraith @LaurenPorFavor
“I’m not worried about fire,” she added. “We have controlled burns here, and there’s never strong winds.”
“But there are only a couple roads in and out,” said her husband, Mark Chiarucci.
The effects of the outages have already been varied and widespread.
The East Bay Municipal Utility District said it would switch to backup generators during the outages. The agency did not expect any interruptions to water service during the shutoffs, but asked its 1.4 million customers to conserve water in order to stretch reserves as much as possible.
The Santa Rosa Unifed School District said all schools would be closed Monday as well as athletic programs and child care due to “high winds, smoke, power shutoffs and nearby evacuations.”
The Cal women’s basketball team moved a home exhibition game against a Chinese team to Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus, which is not in PG&E’s expected blackout zone.
It was all in preparation for powerful, longlasting winds that were expected to begin blasting California on Saturday night and peak in the small hours of Sunday morning. Gusts could reach up to 80 miles per hour at the highest elevations in the Bay Area and 25 to 45 mph in the flatlands, said Drew Peterson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“This is going to be a potentially historic event, not just in terms of the meteorological conditions, but also the societal impact,” Peterson said.
The weather service said a redflag warning for dangerously strong winds and critically low humidity was in effect for the North Bay and East Bay from 8 p.m. Saturday to 11 a.m. Monday, and for the Peninsula coast and the Santa Cruz Mountains from 3 a.m. Sunday to 11 a.m. Monday.
Dominic Fracassa, Mallory Moench and J.D. Morris are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle. com, mallory.moench@sfchron icle.com jd.morris@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @DominicFracassa, @mallorymoench @thejdmorris