When smoke wafts over your area these days, do you worry where the fire is? If so, you are not alone!
Many people who had narrow brushes with the recent fires in Mendocino County are understandably anxious every time the smoke settles into our county again. But now that our fires are mostly out, the smoke in our air is almost always from fires in other counties, not our own.
The reason for this smoke is both new fires and "deep-seated" fires still burning elsewhere from the lightning strikes. Some of these fires put out significant smoke, enough to make a large plume carried high into the atmosphere and blown about by upper level winds. CAL FIRE personnel say that we will probably continue to experience days or portions of days of
thick smoke from other counties occasionally, all the way until the fall rains come.
The presence of the smoke here depends on the location of those fires and the direction the wind blows. A sudden change of wind direction from on-shore (from the west) to off-shore (from the east) winds could bring smoke to us from fires east of here, as far away as the Sierra. Winds from the south can bring smoke from areas such as Santa Cruz County. These wind changes can sometimes happen quickly -- suddenly enough to seem like smoke from a major fire in our immediate area. But most often it is not.
This doesn't mean we are immune from further fires this season -- far from it! So do be alert. But don't be worried. If you see actual flames or a column of smoke, call 9-1-1 immediately and don't assume someone else has reported it. But if you see a general smoke haze without an intense smell of smoke, even with very poor visibility, it's likely that someone else's smoke is blowing our way.
Please pass this information along to your friends. And please be fire safe!
Julie Rogers
Executive Director
Mendocino County Fire Safe Council
(707) 462-3662
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