Hazy Sacramento deals with smoky smell

SACRAMENTO » No major wildfires are burning near Sacramento but for two weeks a dull haze and the faint smell of smoke from distant blazes have blanketed California’s capital region, forcing summer campers to stay inside, obscuring normally bright skylines and leaving ash on cars.

Experiencing smoky air from blowing winds is nothing new in many California cities, but Sacramento air quality experts say it’s rare for the dirty air to linger for so long, a reality of everlarger fires that take longer to extinguish.

The haze stretches to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, and nearly every major population center in between has suffered air quality that’s considered dangerous for children, the elderly and people with asthma or other respiratory conditions.

There are two major wildfires — one called the Mendocino Complex Fire that is the largest in California history — burning more than 100 miles north of Sacramento and another huge fire near Yosemite National Park.