The air quality in Los Angeles and the Southland is so bad, so dramatic it's alarming.
On LA's Westside, the air smells like a burnt roast, but the fire blazes miles away. (Update: Just learned there was a fire in Brentwood that burned I think close to an acre, and it's out now. I wondered about those helicopters and sirens.)
The air is heavy with particulates and heat, and the air quality is the main thing people are talking about, along with a huge smoke plume going two miles high in the sky that looks like an atomic bomb exploded.
I just heard a lung specialist on KTLA, saying that if you can smell the air, no matter how far from the epicenter of the fire and smoke, that means you're breathing fine particulate matter, which can have short and long term consequences.
Keep windows closed at home and in the car and use recirculated air. No exercise outdoors, and really I don't recommend indoors either. You don't want to breathe deeply and lodge the particulates deeper in your lungs.
Southland air should remain very unhealthy as long as two weeks after the fires are out. As of now, fires are burning out of control. The big one they call The Station Fire has burned 140,000 acres...bigger than the size of San Francisco.
Click here to see current South Coast Air Quality Managment District map of air quality in LA County and vecinity.
To see view of smoke from local Marina, click here.
I was on phone today, planning next clean air getaways. Check back.
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