Smoke, fog a sooty concoction

Hazardous mix will hang in Fresno air for a few days.

By Mark Grossi
The Fresno Bee

(Updated Wednesday, January 15, 2003, 8:17 AM)

The dangerous soot plumes from a still-burning woodpile fire are caught in a soggy blanket of Fresno fog, keeping schoolchildren indoors and causing air officials to continue warning the public.

The prognosis for the rest of the week is not good. Fog is expected to settle into the San Joaquin Valley for a few days, and the 4-day-old southwest Fresno fire shows no signs of relenting.

"It's going to take a long time to pull the piles apart and put out this fire -- maybe a week," interim Fresno Fire Chief Joel Aranaz said.

Aranaz said firefighters are wrestling with a way to best approach the fire, which is buried deep in a 20- to 30-foot-high pile of wood and other debris stretched over about 3 acres. Firefighters' attempts to reach the fire Tuesday were ineffective, officials said.

Aranaz said he will meet with state officials and the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to discuss the best way to attack the fire.

The fire continues to spew microscopic particles into the fog, which suspends them in the air and creates a breathing hazard for some people.

Though the particles did not appear to be causing the same huge spikes recorded on pollution monitors Monday, school leaders were taking no chances.

The Fresno Unified School District, the fourth-largest district in the state, canceled sports and outdoor activities Tuesday and today. Baseball and track practice had begun, and soccer season is under way.

"When you can smell or taste the smoke in the air, you know it's bad," Fresno Unified spokeswoman Jill Marmolejo said.

The smell of smoke hung in the moist air Tuesday over many parts of Fresno. People in Clovis noticed.

Light wind is moving the smoke around, said Evan Shipp, supervising meteorologist with the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District. People might smell it for a while, and then it moves to another part of the city.

"If you smell it, you should be cautious about exercising outside," Shipp said. "Exercise aggravates its effects."

The air district again advised people not to light fires in their fireplaces today. People also were warned that the air could remain unhealthful, even though Fresno's two particle state-of-the-art monitors didn't show large spikes Tuesday.

"It just means the spike could be taking place somewhere else," Shipp said.

The pollutant of concern is PM2.5, particulate matter 2.5 microns wide, about 1/28th the width of a human hair. The measurement is new, and the district has only two monitoring sites for it thus far.

The district's older monitors show a smaller increase in particles, but they did not show unhealthful air. But officials said they have warned people about smoke hazards from fires in the past, even though they have not had precise PM2.5 measurements.

Particles 2.5 microns wide and smaller can easily evade the body's defenses and lodge in the lungs, triggering asthma attacks and heart problems as well as other lung diseases.

Children, the elderly and people with sensitive lungs are the most vulnerable, health officials say. But people with healthy lungs can be affected as well.

Unlike ozone, the summertime pollutant, particles can penetrate into buildings, especially during episodes such as the one in Fresno.

In other parts of the Valley, such as Visalia, readings for PM2.5 were well within the healthy limit. But the woodpile fire sent Fresno's two monitors reading several times higher than the federal health standard Monday, officials said.

At the site of the fire Tuesday, firefighters briefly worked to pull apart the 2- to 3-acre pile, which is part of Archie Crippin Excavation at Nielsen and Marks avenues. But crews stopped because they were not reaching the fire in the pile, officials said.

Aranaz said California Industrial Waste Management officials may have a better approach today.

The owner of the Crippin site has received two notices of violations from the air district, officials said. A possible fine could range from $1,000 to $50,000.

The fire began at 3 a.m. Saturday by spontaneous combustion. The decomposing wood, moisture and oxygen combined in just the right way to spark the fire.

The flames Tuesday were more visible than on Monday, Aranaz said. He said the pile could be harboring paint, metal and tires, which make a fire "dirty" with contaminants.

"We discussed moving dirt over the top of the pile to smother the fire," Aranaz said. "But the piles are just too high to do it."

The reporter can be reached at mgrossi@fresnobee.com or 441-6316.

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