P.M. Update: Bad air forces Fresno Unified to cancel outdoor activities

By Mark Grossi
The Fresno Bee

(Updated Tuesday, January 14, 2003, 5:46 PM)

The dangerous soot and ash plumes from an ongoing wood-pile fire are caught in the soggy embrace of a Fresno fog that is keeping schoolchildren indoors.

The particles on Tuesday did not appear to be causing the same huge spike that pollution monitors recorded Monday, but school leaders weren’t taking any chances.

The Fresno Unified School District canceled sports and outdoor activities Tuesday and today. Baseball and track practice had begun, and soccer games have been scheduled.

The fire started Saturday in a 2- to 3-acre pile of woody debris on the western edge of Fresno. It is producing tiny specks known as PM2.5. The specks are 2.5 microns wide or smaller, meaning they are about 1/28th the width of a human hair or smaller.

The fire is buried inside a 20- to 30-foot-tall pile of woody debris, which was collected from demolished homes with the idea of selling it for biofuel to power plants.

Firefighters spent several hours Saturday stopping the fire, but it flared again.