Wildfires have little effect on inland residents
San Benito County’s air quality has remained mostly acceptable,
despite two wildfires that continue to burn in southern Monterey
County.
Wildfires have little effect on inland residents
San Benito County’s air quality has remained mostly acceptable, despite two wildfires that continue to burn in southern Monterey County.
“In San Benito County, the air quality has not been too bad,” said Ed Kendig, a spokesperson for the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District. “It hasn’t been whacked too hard.”
Every hour data is sent to staff at the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District from automated testing sites in San Benito, Monterey and Santa Cruz. The testing sites have been set up in nine areas where populations are concentrated in the tri-county area, including Hollister.
The fire in King City, dubbed the Indians fire, started June 8 from a campfire, according to air pollution control district staff. The fire has burned 81,378 acres, and is contained.
The other fire burning in Big Sur, the Basin Complex fire, started June 21 and has burned more than 100,000 acres. It is still just 41 percent contained, as of July 15. The fire started during a brief lightning storm that also ignited small fires throughout California, including the Whitehurst Fire near Gilroy.
Despite the blazes, the air quality in San Benito, especially near Hollister, has remained good.
Even though the air around San Benito may have seemed hazy and the sky colored with smoke in the early weeks of the fires, Kendig said most of the smoke moving eastward stayed aloft enough that it didn’t affect air quality on the ground.
One of the main concerns from wild fires is the amount of particulate matter that smoke can spread into the air. Based on the smoke levels that the California Air Resources Board has established, the amount of particulate matter in the air in San Benito County has remained good.
“Carmel Valley and Monterey get the hits every once in a while,” Kendig said. “Carmel Valley is a little high this morning [July 15], but everything else is nominal. There have been a couple times when the winds have changed and the plume blew out this way.”
The next level up on the particulate matter scale, moderate, creates some problems for people with heart or lung disease, and can aggravate heart or respiratory problems. Parts of Salinas, Monterey and Carmel Valley have had air quality that ranged from good to moderate in the last few weeks.
“Things have been fairly good, according to the instrumentation,” Kendig said. “Hollister has stayed below the health-based standards so compared to the impacts that could have happened with these monumental fires, things have been good.”
For daily updates on the air quality in the tri-county area, visit www.mbuapcd.org and click on air quality data.
