California wildfire fouls Las Vegas air, causes ozone alert
A 19,000-acre wildfire hundreds of miles away in California fouled the air in Las Vegas Friday, but the National Weather Service said winds later in the day might be enough to push the smoke out of the valley.
Weather service meteorologist Andy Gorelow said he was “close to 100 percent” that the haze that hung over the valley and obscured the mountains came from the Erskine Fire, which was burning out of control Friday near Lake Isabella in California’s Kern County, about 300 miles west of Las Vegas.
The smudged sky prompted the Clark County Department of Air Quality to issue an air quality alert for smoke and ozone through Saturday morning.
The valley was already under a less-serious air quality advisory that started Thursday and remains in effect through Monday.
“If it doesn’t blow out this evening, we could be stuck with it through the weekend,” Gorelow said of the haze.
One bit of good news, he said: A shift in the wind closer to the fire seemed to be pushing the plume to the south, so “we’re not being fed more smoke.”
Jose Chaverria of the county air quality department recommended that people with lung conditions, children and older adults stay indoors. He added that residents should keep their windows closed at home and in the car and run their air conditioning because the filters remove dust and smoke particles from the air.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow monitoring system, the worst of the smoke pollution was centered around Henderson and the central valley, though Chaverria said the haze also would affect residents in the northwest valley.
Dr. Joel Katz, director of the Allergy & Asthma Center near Tenaya Way and Smoke Ranch Road, said his staff reported a significant increase in patients complaining of congestion, runny noses and wheezing.
“We tend to see these problems anytime we see big fires in California or Nevada,” he said.
Individuals suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma or other conditions may also experience shortness of breath and eye irritation until the air clears.
Katz suggested patients stay indoors, take their medication and carry it with them, and if they find their symptoms are becoming too severe, visit their health care providers.
Most valley hospitals, including University Medical Center, MountainView Hospital and the St. Rose Dominican hospitals, said they hadn’t observed a boost in patients due to the smoke and ozone levels as of Friday morning.
Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski reported an uptick in breathing difficulty calls Friday afternoon as compared with the number of calls Thursday, but he said it’s difficult to attribute the increase to one cause.
Most of the calls involved elderly patients, some with asthma or COPD. None of the cases were life threatening, but some of the patients were taken to emergency departments, he said.
It’s not unusual for the smoke from distant wildfires to settle in the Las Vegas Valley, basically a shallow bowl ringed with mountains that tend to trap air pollution, Gorelow said.
Friday’s haze was not thick enough to significantly impact visibility at McCarran International Airport or block the heat from the sun. Friday’s high temperature was still expected to hit 109, seven degrees above normal for the date.
The forecast calls for temperatures to remain above average in the coming days, with a high of 107 Saturday and 110 on Sunday and Monday.
Later next week, forecasters expect light winds and some incoming monsoon moisture that could give the valley a slight chance for thunderstorms on Thursday.
Review-Journal writer Max Michor contributed to this report.
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Find @RefriedBrean on Twitter. Contact Pashtana Usufzy at pusufzy@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4563. Find her on Twitter: @pashtana_u
