Smoke Covering Parts of SoHum and Mendocino Comes From Prescribed Burn
![Smoke laying in around Bear Buttes as seen from the west. [Photo provided by a local]](https://kymkemp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/313090939_931086917858625_938155974119894786_n.jpg)
Smoke laying in around Bear Buttes as seen from the west. [Photo provided by a local]
The swath of smoke is covering much of Southern Humboldt and northern Mendocino this morning. Crews started a prescribed burn in the Humboldt Redwoods State Park west of Dyerville to reduce fuel loads that lead to wildfire and keep the prairies in the area healthy.
The yellow area shows where the smoke is covering this morning. [Screenshot from AirNow]
Screenshot of PurpleAir shows air quality levels.
According to Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jeremy Ward, the burn is doing well. “Yesterday they were pretty successful,” he told us in an interview by phone this morning. “They were able to get more acreage than they were initially expecting.”
He explained that the burn is intended to expected to continue today though there won’t be “much less ignitions.” Most of the new starts will be in the area of Grasshopper Lookout which is west of Weott. “We’re looking at maybe 40 acres,” Ward told us. “Today will be the end of it for the next several days.”
However, though there won’t be more fire laid down, he said, “You can expect some smoke coming out for several days as the interior burns.”
The Cal Fire helicopter will be doing overflights around 1 p.m. to view the success of the burn.
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There’s quite a lot of burning going on. Satellite view showing het spots: https://zoom.earth/#view=40.302712,-124.019183,12z/overlays=heat,fires
Looks like it got away from them…
“They were able to get more acreage than they were initially expecting.”
-CalFire Battalion Chief Jeremy Ward-
“They”…!!!???
Doesn’t he mean, “WE”…!!!???
??Sounds like he isn’t taking any credit…??♂️?♂️
Someone needs to ask Cal Fire point blank if they lost control of this “controlled burn”…
It wouldn’t surprise me a bit…
Look at all the spotting…
It sure looks that way to me…
Who is the “burn boss” this time?
He’s got some splainin’ to do…
Yesterday, October 28, 9:00 AM…
Today, October 29,9:00AM
Relax. That does not mean that it got away from them.
Smells like victory.
Pretty lousy timing for those of us who brethe air ?
IMO worth it if these preventative fires save the State Forest from a critical burn, later.
Waiting for rain is an option.
You ever notice there’s no forest fires in the winter? You can’t do a controlled burn if it’s wet
It’s the park, not state forest, and they should be more responsible about putting their neighbors at risk from AQ and fire. We should all be waiting for rain to light big fires.
You’re not at risk from the air quality.
Sorry. I couldn’t see the park, for all the trees!
We’re you around last summer?
I’m used to smelling smoke this time of year.
Summer time smoke from forest fires is 100 times worse!
Guess they should wait til you stop breathing?
Close your windows.
Seeing and smelling in Ruth as well
Heavy smoke and some ashfall here, uphill and downwind. I wish these burns could be limited to the rainy season. It’s stressful, and we’re feeling the pulmonary effect of all the smoke. My husband has pulmonary issues and this is worrisome. Feeling a bit WTFF about it. ( the first F is for “Flaming”)
I bet you were really bitching the last several summers.
There’s only one way to make wildfires less destructive.
We need preemptive burns and this is the time of year to accomplish that goal
On private land, if you are conducting a controlled burn operation, air quality won’t let you proceed if there is potential to smoke out communities. Violations could be issued if you proceed out of the approved prescriptions.
It’s interesting that the parks can smoke out the Eel River valley and that’s ok?
That being said, I would rather breath the smoke now when it’s safe. If this was on fire mid summer the smoke would be the least of my concerns.
More prescribed fire please!
A prescribed burn in New Mexico burned 1/2 the state down this past spring/summer. Huge out of control fire caused by firefighters. Fire is unpredictable and dangerous, combine that with the not so predictable weather and things can get out of hand pretty quickly. That being said, this is more like a prescribed smolder. All smoke little fire. 100% annoying, but better than running for your freaking life surrounded by flames.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/forest-service-burn-boss-arrested-prescribed-fire-torches-private-land-rcna53535
The Air Quality Index is outdated and very misleading.
Those AQI categories on PurpleAir are actually not based on current research about air pollution. They have no scientific basis. It is actually quite harmful to be breathing this, even when the readings are “moderate.”
There is no “safe” amount of fine particle pollution exposure. Even exposures to levels in the “green” so-called good category, and even in the short-term, have been linked to a wide range of bad health outcomes, including deaths from things like heart attacks and strokes, in numerous studies.
”There is no lower limit that can be used to define safe air quality.” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/12/even-low-levels-of-air-pollution-can-damage-health-study-finds
This is just a summary of recent research. Many other studies have come to similar conclusions.
Meanwhile many of us in this part of California live up dirt roads that create clouds of unavoidable dust. Would that also be regarded as “fine particle matter”? What’s your opinion or knowledge about the (long term) health risks from that? Some years back I recall hearing that that dust contained harmful compounds.
So. While we consider the effects of airborne contaminants when fires create such conditions, should we not be equally or more concerned about what is often around us for half the year, each year?
In a quick search I found this NIH study to my point/ inquiry.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5968206/
No, we should not be equally or more concerned about that. While breathing in road dust is certainly not healthy, combustion-related fine particle pollution is known to be more harmful. Biomass smoke in particular is quite harmful to be breathing.
Here is just one example comparing the mutagenic potential of wood smoke to traffic exhaust. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19041418/
Tobacco smoke is from burning biomass too, but, among other things, extracts of particulate matter containing substantial quantities of wood smoke have been found to be as much as 30 times more potent at promoting tumors in toxicology studies than those containing cigarette smoke condensate. (Mentioned here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6670089_Woodsmoke_Health_Effects_A_Review)
Combustion-related pollution is also more closely linked to things like strokes and heart attacks.
This should piss all the complainers on here off. Lol
You know it. As the slash machine keeps turning, the wheels of hellfire keep burning.. burn em out. Bwahahahah. Happy Halloween.
Definitely noticed it in the lower van duzen today
People complaining here about prescribed burns are the same people who complain that the firefighters should “just put it out already” when it’s a major wildfire in the summer.
Exactly! Professional complainers..
Says the person complaining… Even both of you should have become bored by now of thinking only in stereotypes.
It’s a lot worse than “moderate” today.
Waste of time and resources. Not big enough to make a difference.
We are seeing and smelling smoke in northern parts of Lake Co. also. There was a smaller prescribed burn (14 acres) in this area yesterday but I don’t think that could account for the amount of smoke we’re seeing. Purpleair shows air quality in the red zone, about 150 ppm. I’ve breathed a lot worse, but still…. I don’t see how we can avoid doing burns to reduce fuel load, esp. in brushy areas or where the undergrowth has gotten out of hand. It’s not a good solution but it will be a lot worse if we don’t do it.
I thought all we needed to do to prevent forest fires was take out our rakes and rake the forest floor?
Redwood news and 5, 6, and 11 gives wind speed and direction predictions in their weather report. I imagine the weather people on screen didn’t work this all by spending hours with the computer. They got it from NOAA or a similar source. It would have been nice to light the prescribed burns on a day when the prediction was for winds to the west, out over the ocean. Here in Alderpoint in the Main Eel valley the smoke has been as bad as during the worst of the wildfires. This is a town full of seniors, myself included, and smoke filled air is not good for our health. The smoke from any large fire has bad health consequences just like losing forests and homes. If you die from the smoke it’s just like dying from the flames.
Redwood smoke is among the worst.
It should be treated differently than other burns.
It should be limited to smaller parameters.
It looked to me like way more than 800 acres, when I compared the satellite heat imaging to my township/range map…
I would guess 1000-1300 acres at least, but that would be an estimate…
I wonder if that will be disclosed?
Would that be considered leaving the permitted parameters?
It definitely led to some unfavorable conditions, as Ed Denson has pointed out.
I believe an after action review should be strongly considered…
If you cannot deal with smoke, you should not live in the forest.
Dear Sick, do you know what a non-sequitur is?
I am supportive of measures taken by our State Parks and CalFire to help reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires in our area. With the ongoing evolution to the perception of what fire means for our California landscapes, prescribed burning has become a move away from fighting fire towards fire management- a more ecological and safe approach. Burn plans do take into account projected air quality to avoid as much of the unwanted effects of smoke as possible, but conditions can and do change unfavorably sometimes. Hopefully clean air returns soon to our area!
But there are alternatives to burning. But the brilliantly ignorant urbanites of California have decreed otherwise. They mandated that the hourly minimum wage with overtime be paid to goat herders who ran brush clearing herds. Thus making a technique that doesn’t fill the air with smoke and carbon dioxide is no longer feasible.
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/marysville-appeal-democrat/20220611/281844352288723
https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a37654029/goats-wildfires-california-2021/
October 31, 2022 and the skies were clear and beautiful…