latimes--2020-09-20--Open-ocean fish farm proposed off San Diego coast could be first in federal waters

A prestigious San Diego research institute and a Long Beach social-benefit investment group are teaming to create what could be the first fish farm in federal waters .
The proposed Pacific Ocean AquaFarm would be about four miles offshore of San Diego and would generate 5,000 metric tons of sushi-grade yellowfish each year — enough for 11 million servings of the popular seafood .
A partnership between Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and Pacific6 Enterprise , the project also would create a diversity of economic opportunities and provide a local source for a fish that is now mostly imported .
The institute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will lead the environmental review of their proposal , which will take about 18 to 24 months .
Construction would take about a year , and the first set of fish stocked there would be ready for market 18 to 22 months after that , Kent said .
“ We ’ re talking about five years before people are enjoying farmed yellowtail off the coast of California , ” said Don Kent , president of Hubbs-SeaWorld .
Environmental groups have opposed previous offshore aquaculture operations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life , can foul the water and undermine wild fisheries .
Kent said that the project would be cleaner than aquaculture facilities in other countries and would be designed and located to avoid harmful effects to marine animals or fishermen .
He said similar projects are already in operation in Mexico , but launching the operation in San Diego could enhance job creation and food security here .
“ We would rather have all the economic benefit in this country here , for our people , ” he said .
“ Since we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we would rather grow it to our standards.
” Hubbs-Seaworld already operates a hatchery in Carlsbad , and there are farms that raise oysters and abalone in Southern California , Kent said .
But there are no other aquaculture projects in U.S. federal waters , defined as three to 200 nautical miles offshore .
In 2014 , the organization proposed opening a different project , Rose Canyon Fisheries , near San Diego , but that project never came to fruition .
Part of the challenge for projects like this is the longer timeline @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , said John Molina , a founder of Pacific6 , which has invested in other aquaculture operations , clean energy , affordable housing and historic renovation projects .
Pacific Ocean AquaFarms could be a prototype for sustainable and profitable fish production .
“ One of our goals is to demonstrate that this can be done in a way that investors get a fair return , ” he said .
The operation would produce sushi-grade yellowtail aimed at domestic markets , officials said .
There ’ s some taste variation between wild-caught and farmed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a matter of preference than quality , said Davie Rudie , president of Catalina Offshore Products , a San Diego seafood distributor .
Farmed fish typically has higher fat content , which may be preferable for some dishes , but less desirable for others , he said .
Chefs are familiar with those differences , through farmed fish sources from other countries , Rudie said .
“ The market already understands the difference in wild and farmed fish , ” he said .
“ They ’ re apples and oranges in terms of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different.
” Another change would be the consistent availability of farm-raised fish , Kent said .
Although fish reproduce on seasonal cycles in the wild , the organization would adjust that timing to produce hatchlings year-round .
“ The fish start out as eggs that we harvest from a group of adult brood fish , that produce eggs in the spring and summer , ” he said .
“ By controlling temperature and daylight , we can have groups of multiple adults producing eggs year-round .
You stock the farm , and at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a more consistent distribution of size.
” Once they reach about 30 grams , or 4 to 5 inches long , the fish would be transferred to floating pens , suspended in grids about four nautical miles off Mission Bay , the project ’ s preferred site .
In each pen , a 30-meter ring of durable plastic piping would hold a net hanging 14 meters down , along with netting on top to keep the fish in , and predatory birds out , Kent said .
The pens would be moored to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within the net-lined pens .
Each pen can grow 250 metric tons of yellowtail , harvested when they reach about 7 to 9 pounds .
Fourteen such pens would be set within a submerged steel grid , 80 meters per side .
And a second , similar grid would be set due west of the first , slightly farther offshore , Kent said .
The organization would start with just four pens in order to analyze their process and results before reaching full production capacity .
The project comes amid an expansion of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the creation of 10 planned throughout the country , with the first in Southern California and Baja .
The program will be overseen by NOAA and comes under an executive order signed by President Trump in May .
In addition , Hubbs-Seaworld plans to enhance its .
New legislation by Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath ( D-Encinitas ) authorizes the organization to update the program , which produces white sea bass , to conduct research on all species of marine fish with an economic effect on California .
Environmental groups have expressed reservations about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ open waters , citing concerns about predation , pollution and effects on other marine species such as whales , dolphins and sharks .
The organizations Friends of the Earth , Recirculating Farms Coalition and Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance complained that Pacific Ocean AquaFarms could release fish waste and other pollution from antibiotics , pesticides and other chemicals into the surrounding waters .
“ Industrial aquaculture facilities can disrupt ecosystems , harm coastal economies and threaten the livelihoods of fishing communities , ” the groups said in a joint statement .
“ The government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and outdated methods of fish production at the expense of responsible seafood producers.
” Kent said Pacific Ocean AquaFarms would minimize risk to marine life , with thick cables that reduce the risk to animals .
He said modeling by NOAA shows that the excess nutrients produced by the fish would be quickly diluted in the deep water , a premise that would have to be tested as the fish farm pursues permits .
The project would need to be vetted by half a dozen state and federal agencies , including NOAA , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , California Department of Fish & Wildlife , California Coastal Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard , which would analyze its environmental effects to ocean water quality , marine mammal migration , ship traffic and other conditions .
Rudie , who sits on an advisory committee to the Pacific Fishery Management Council , which regulates fishing operations , said the project would also have to satisfy fishermen ’ s concerns about disruption to existing wild fisheries .
“ Fishermen have concern about competition , and placement of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to all parties ’ input , ” he said .
Kent said the greater risk is not pursuing aquaculture in the U.S. , where most of the seafood consumed is now imported .
The Pacific Ocean AquaFarms project could generate economic opportunities for the area , including about 75 jobs , and other indirect benefits .
And it could help boost the U.S. share of world fish production , Kent said .
“ The idea of being self-sufficient in our food supply is something that we ’ ve always accepted in the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over 85 % to 90 % of our seafood is imported.
” San Diego is the hub of and was once the capital of the .
Local fishermen also harvest various groundfish and migratory tropical species .
Many wild fisheries are near their limit , and aquaculture can be a sustainable way to produce protein , officials said .
“ We believe that there is a need to diversify how we get our food , ” said Molina , of Pacific6 .
“ It doesn ’ t mean that we ’ re going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not looking to replace hamburgers and steaks , but we do feel that seafood is important , and having seafood that is locally sourced is very , very important .
”

A prestigious San Diego research institute and a Long Beach social-benefit investment group are teaming to create what could be the first fish farm in federal waters.
The proposed Pacific Ocean AquaFarm would be about four miles offshore of San Diego and would generate 5,000 metric tons of sushi-grade yellowfish each year — enough for 11 million servings of the popular seafood.
A partnership between Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute and Pacific6 Enterprise, the project also would create a diversity of economic opportunities and provide a local source for a fish that is now mostly imported.
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The institute submitted a federal permit application for the project Sept. 9. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will lead the environmental review of their proposal, which will take about 18 to 24 months. Construction would take about a year, and the first set of fish stocked there would be ready for market 18 to 22 months after that, Kent said.
“We’re talking about five years before people are enjoying farmed yellowtail off the coast of California,” said Don Kent, president of Hubbs-SeaWorld.
Environmental groups have opposed previous offshore aquaculture operations, arguing that they pose risks to marine life, can foul the water and undermine wild fisheries. Kent said that the project would be cleaner than aquaculture facilities in other countries and would be designed and located to avoid harmful effects to marine animals or fishermen. He said similar projects are already in operation in Mexico, but launching the operation in San Diego could enhance job creation and food security here.
“We would rather have all the economic benefit in this country here, for our people,” he said. “Since we’re buying the product anyway, we would rather grow it to our standards.”
Hubbs-Seaworld already operates a hatchery in Carlsbad, and there are farms that raise oysters and abalone in Southern California, Kent said.
But there are no other aquaculture projects in U.S. federal waters, defined as three to 200 nautical miles offshore. In 2014, the organization proposed opening a different project, Rose Canyon Fisheries, near San Diego, but that project never came to fruition.
Part of the challenge for projects like this is the longer timeline, which can scare off conventional investors, said John Molina, a founder of Pacific6, which has invested in other aquaculture operations, clean energy, affordable housing and historic renovation projects. Pacific Ocean AquaFarms could be a prototype for sustainable and profitable fish production.
“One of our goals is to demonstrate that this can be done in a way that investors get a fair return,” he said.
The operation would produce sushi-grade yellowtail aimed at domestic markets, officials said. There’s some taste variation between wild-caught and farmed yellowtail, but it’s really a matter of preference than quality, said Davie Rudie, president of Catalina Offshore Products, a San Diego seafood distributor. Farmed fish typically has higher fat content, which may be preferable for some dishes, but less desirable for others, he said. Chefs are familiar with those differences, through farmed fish sources from other countries, Rudie said.
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“The market already understands the difference in wild and farmed fish,” he said. “They’re apples and oranges in terms of taste and texture. They’re different.”
Another change would be the consistent availability of farm-raised fish, Kent said. Although fish reproduce on seasonal cycles in the wild, the organization would adjust that timing to produce hatchlings year-round.
“The fish start out as eggs that we harvest from a group of adult brood fish, that produce eggs in the spring and summer,” he said. “By controlling temperature and daylight, we can have groups of multiple adults producing eggs year-round. You stock the farm, and at different times of year, you get a more consistent distribution of size.”
Once they reach about 30 grams, or 4 to 5 inches long, the fish would be transferred to floating pens, suspended in grids about four nautical miles off Mission Bay, the project’s preferred site. In each pen, a 30-meter ring of durable plastic piping would hold a net hanging 14 meters down, along with netting on top to keep the fish in, and predatory birds out, Kent said. The pens would be moored to the bottom, with fish swimming freely within the net-lined pens.
Each pen can grow 250 metric tons of yellowtail, harvested when they reach about 7 to 9 pounds. Fourteen such pens would be set within a submerged steel grid, 80 meters per side. And a second, similar grid would be set due west of the first, slightly farther offshore, Kent said. The organization would start with just four pens in order to analyze their process and results before reaching full production capacity.
The project comes amid an expansion of aquaculture activity. The federal government announced the creation of 10 planned aquaculture opportunity areas throughout the country, with the first in Southern California and Baja. The program will be overseen by NOAA and comes under an executive order signed by President Trump in May.
In addition, Hubbs-Seaworld plans to enhance its hatchery program in Carlsbad . New legislation by Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath (D-Encinitas) authorizes the organization to update the program, which produces white sea bass, to conduct research on all species of marine fish with an economic effect on California.
Environmental groups have expressed reservations about aquaculture projects, including those proposed for open waters, citing concerns about predation, pollution and effects on other marine species such as whales, dolphins and sharks.
The organizations Friends of the Earth, Recirculating Farms Coalition and Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance complained that Pacific Ocean AquaFarms could release fish waste and other pollution from antibiotics, pesticides and other chemicals into the surrounding waters.
“Industrial aquaculture facilities can disrupt ecosystems, harm coastal economies and threaten the livelihoods of fishing communities,” the groups said in a joint statement. “The government needs to stop prioritizing risky, dangerous and outdated methods of fish production at the expense of responsible seafood producers.”
Kent said Pacific Ocean AquaFarms would minimize risk to marine life, with thick cables that reduce the risk to animals. He said modeling by NOAA shows that the excess nutrients produced by the fish would be quickly diluted in the deep water, a premise that would have to be tested as the fish farm pursues permits.
The project would need to be vetted by half a dozen state and federal agencies, including NOAA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Department of Fish & Wildlife, California Coastal Commission and the U.S. Coast Guard, which would analyze its environmental effects to ocean water quality, marine mammal migration, ship traffic and other conditions.
Rudie, who sits on an advisory committee to the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which regulates fishing operations, said the project would also have to satisfy fishermen’s concerns about disruption to existing wild fisheries.
“Fishermen have concern about competition, and placement of the farm ... so we have to listen to all parties’ input,” he said.
Kent said the greater risk is not pursuing aquaculture in the U.S., where most of the seafood consumed is now imported. The Pacific Ocean AquaFarms project could generate economic opportunities for the area, including about 75 jobs, and other indirect benefits. And it could help boost the U.S. share of world fish production, Kent said.
“The idea of being self-sufficient in our food supply is something that we’ve always accepted in the U.S.,” he said. “Now over 85% to 90% of our seafood is imported.”
San Diego is the hub of West Coast swordfish fisheries and was once the capital of the tuna industry . Local fishermen also harvest various groundfish and migratory tropical species. Many wild fisheries are near their limit, and aquaculture can be a sustainable way to produce protein, officials said.
“We believe that there is a need to diversify how we get our food,” said Molina, of Pacific6. “It doesn’t mean that we’re going to replace cattle. We’re not looking to replace hamburgers and steaks, but we do feel that seafood is important, and having seafood that is locally sourced is very, very important.”
Brennan writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.


latimes--2020-09-20--Coronavirus deaths in California top 15,000

Coronavirus deaths in California topped 15,000 on Sunday , according to The Times tracker , a reminder of the staggering toll even as new cases are falling .
As of Sunday , California recorded 15,014 deaths , adding 27 Sunday and 77 on Saturday .
The state has more than 785,000 confirmed cases , the most of any state in the nation .
California ’ s death toll , however , remains far below New York , which has recorded more than 33,000 fatalities .
New Jersey has recorded 16,000 , and Texas also just crossed the 15,000 mark .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ been seeing a sharp decline in new coronavirus cases after a summer spike that sparked widespread alarm .
The declines have allowed some communities to reopen more businesses and , in a few cases , schools .
But officials urged people to remain cautious .
Health officials said the number of new daily cases has climbed over the past four days .
Although that could be the result of the reopening of testing centers and an increase in testing , it also may be linked to socializing during the recent holiday weekend , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the number of new cases is of concern because it may reflect increased exposures associated with Labor Day activities , ” L.A. County public health director Barbara Ferrer said .
County health officials said they will be monitoring the numbers closely .
The report comes as the state is riding a new in combating the coronavirus , with hospitals treating the fewest patients with COVID-19 since April .
The percentage of tests coming back positive for the virus statewide is also , with Gov .
Gavin Newsom saying the state is “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ferrer said the daily average of new cases was still preventing the county from moving to .
The county has a daily average of 8.1 cases for each 100,000 residents .
That number needs to be under 7.0 for to move up from the most restricted tier , Ferrer said .
“ If we don ’ t see a surge in cases and hospitalizations associated with activities over , and we continue to reduce our rate of community transmission over the weeks ahead , we could enter Tier 2 , which is less @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” she said .
Previous holiday weekends during the pandemic have sparked surges of infections , which generally show up two weeks later .
Ferrer has said the county should not reopen further until the numbers from Labor Day start coming into focus this week .
San Francisco will allow inside dining at restaurants when the city moves into the next tier of re-openings , possibly by the end of the month , city officials said Friday .
Indoor dining will be limited to 25 % capacity , up to 100 people .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the restaurant industry to develop health and safety guidelines for the reopening .
“ Restaurants have been hit hard by COVID-19 , ” Mayor London Breed said in a news release .
“ Many have adapted with takeout and outdoor dining , but they ’ ve still been barely hanging on and , sadly , some have closed for good .
”

Coronavirus deaths in California topped 15,000 on Sunday, according to The Times tracker, a reminder of the staggering toll even as new cases are falling.
As of Sunday, California recorded 15,014 deaths, adding 27 Sunday and 77 on Saturday. The state has more than 785,000 confirmed cases, the most of any state in the nation.
California’s death toll, however, remains far below New York, which has recorded more than 33,000 fatalities. New Jersey has recorded 16,000, and Texas also just crossed the 15,000 mark.
The new milestone comes as California has been seeing a sharp decline in new coronavirus cases after a summer spike that sparked widespread alarm.
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The declines have allowed some communities to reopen more businesses and, in a few cases, schools. But officials urged people to remain cautious.
Health officials said the number of new daily cases has climbed over the past four days. Although that could be the result of the reopening of testing centers and an increase in testing, it also may be linked to socializing during the recent holiday weekend, they said.
“The recent increases in the number of new cases is of concern because it may reflect increased exposures associated with Labor Day activities,” L.A. County public health director Barbara Ferrer said.
County health officials said they will be monitoring the numbers closely. The report comes as the state is riding a new wave of success in combating the coronavirus, with hospitals treating the fewest patients with COVID-19 since April.
The percentage of tests coming back positive for the virus statewide is also lower , with Gov. Gavin Newsom saying the state is “turning the corner.”
On Thursday, Ferrer said the daily average of new cases was still preventing the county from moving to a less restrictive tier for reopening . The county has a daily average of 8.1 cases for each 100,000 residents. That number needs to be under 7.0 for L.A. County to move up from the most restricted tier, Ferrer said.
“If we don’t see a surge in cases and hospitalizations associated with activities over Labor Day , and we continue to reduce our rate of community transmission over the weeks ahead, we could enter Tier 2, which is less restrictive, some time in October,” she said.
Previous holiday weekends during the pandemic have sparked surges of infections, which generally show up two weeks later. Ferrer has said the county should not reopen further until the numbers from Labor Day start coming into focus this week.
San Francisco will allow inside dining at restaurants when the city moves into the next tier of re-openings, possibly by the end of the month, city officials said Friday.
Indoor dining will be limited to 25% capacity, up to 100 people. The Department of Public Health is working with the restaurant industry to develop health and safety guidelines for the reopening.
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“Restaurants have been hit hard by COVID-19,” Mayor London Breed said in a news release. “Many have adapted with takeout and outdoor dining, but they’ve still been barely hanging on and, sadly, some have closed for good.”


latimes--2020-09-20--Bobcat fire grows to 103,000 acres, making it one of L.A. County's largest blazes ever

Tim Wheeler , 62 , a school building maintenance worker , didn ’ t know what to expect when he drove up to the corner of Longview and Pallet Mesa roads in Juniper Hills late Sunday morning .
His single-story home was in the path of the Bobcat fire when he last saw it Thursday .
For days he had been watching the fire creep toward the desert enclave .
The blaze was burning on the nearby hillsides Wednesday .
The next morning , the wind shifted , blowing fire deeper into Juniper Hills .
Flames made their way along @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s home .
Embers were igniting hot spots ahead of the fire .
Wheeler , a U.S. Navy veteran , said he grabbed whatever valuables he could and drove off in his black Chevy SSR .
As he sped away , he looked back and saw the fire approaching his home .
“ If God wants to take my home then he ’ ll take it , ” he recalled thinking as he drove .
The Bobcat fire has grown to more than 103,000 acres , making it one of the largest wildfires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blaze continued to threaten some desert communities as well as the Mt .
Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday .
The fire was no longer bearing down on foothill communities such as Arcadia and Monrovia to the south , but it continued to move into some remote areas in the Antelope Valley to the north , destroying homes and prompting numerous evacuations , officials said .
“ We ’ re still in the thick of a good firefight , ” Andrew Mitchell , public information officer with the U.S. Forest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flare-ups overnight around Mt .
Wilson , but firefighters on the ground and in the air were able to prevent any losses there , officials said .
The fire has burned 103,135 acres and is only 15 % contained , officials said .
Fire officials were hoping that lower temperatures and calmer winds expected Monday and Tuesday might give them a chance to get the upper hand on the blaze .
“ I think the next couple days we ’ ll start to really get a handle on this fire because the conditions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be able to really start backing it with all our assets , ” Mitchell said .
He noted the number of people fighting the fire has steadily increased to more than 1,600 , with help coming from as far as New York .
Fueled by gusty winds , the fire more than doubled in size in just a few days , growing nearly 20,000 acres from Friday to Saturday alone and making an aggressive push to the north .
The blaze chewed through an immense swath of the Angeles National Forest , becoming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in terms of acres burned .
The county ’ s largest fire , the Station blaze in 2009 , burned 160,000 acres in the same Angeles National Forest area , killing two firefighters and destroying more than 200 structures .
The 2018 Woolsey fire burned 96,000 acres in L.A. and Ventura counties , destroying more than 1,600 structures and killing three people .
The 1970 Clampitt fire in the northern San Fernando Valley burned 105,000 acres and killed four people .
The extent of the destruction wreaked by the Bobcat fire wasn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t been able to go out and perform a damage assessment as of Sunday morning , as firefighters were continuing to defend homes from flames , said Larry Smith , public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service .
“ At this time we ’ re just focusing on catching this thing , ” Smith said .
Crews were also racing to put out hot spots , at times with the help of bystanders .
Melina Castillo was driving along Big Rock Creek Road , just past Valyermo , when she and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noticed heavy smoke and flames .
“ There ’ s some shovels in the back of the truck , and we ’ ve got to put it out , ” she said .
The father and daughter , who had been on their way to check on their nearby vacation home , grabbed three buckets from the back of their silver Toyota Tundra .
They ran across the creek , which they used to fill the buckets with water to douse the flames .
For about 15 minutes or more , they carried @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the flames .
During one trip , Manuel Castillo saw a firefighter driving by and ran over to tell him flames were burning behind some homes .
The firefighter sped off in his pickup truck to seek more help while other firefighters noticed the smoke and flames and pulled over , using shovels to throw dirt on the fire .
Within minutes , the flames had been put out .
Firefighters thanked the Castillos for helping to save two homes .
For Wheeler in Juniper Hills , Thursday marked the first time he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the 28 years he ’ s lived there .
There had been brush fires before , but firefighters had managed to knock them out .
Even when the Station fire threatened the community , the firefighters had managed to keep it at bay .
But this fire was different .
For up to 15 minutes the winds had pushed the fire down , burning homes , power lines and cars .
Wheeler said he drove down and parked off the road .
He said that the evacuation center was too far for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have enough money to get a hotel .
So he slept on top of his truck bed until Sunday morning , when he drove back up the road and saw how far the fire had reached , which homes had been saved .
Then he saw his blue house .
It was standing .
“ I ’ m thankful to God he kept it safe , ” he said .
But it wasn ’ t just God he thanked .
He knew the firefighters had worked hard to keep many homes in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
County Fire saved my home , ” he said .
“ They saved this place.
” Standing outside his home , he saw that flames had burned the corner of his 5-acre property .
That was the extent of the damage .
The Bobcat fire was one of 27 major wildfires that nearly 19,000 firefighters were battling across the state Sunday , according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection .
The fires together have killed 26 people and destroyed more than 6,100 structures since mid-August , Cal Fire said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the North Complex fire , which had burned over 293,000 acres in Butte , Plumas and Yuba counties as of Sunday .
Crews reported progress , with containment increasing from 58 % Saturday to 64 % by Sunday night .
To the south , a firefighter died last week while battling the El Dorado fire in the San Bernardino National Forest .
That fire , which officials say was sparked by a pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party , had burned 22,489 acres and was 59 % contained Sunday , down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drop in containment reflected both the growth in acreage and a controlled burning operation that caused part of the fire line to be reclassified from contained to uncontained , said Cathey Mattingly , public information officer with Cal Fire in San Bernardino .
Firefighters were hoping to take advantage of a couple of days of calm winds and better humidity to get a handle on the blaze .
“ But the long-term forecast is expecting some more possible wind activity later in the week , ” Mattingly said , “ so we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by day right now .
”

Los Angeles County firefighter Tommy Davis watches a water-dropping helicopter make a drop on the Bobcat fire as it continues to burn in the Angeles National Forest.
Tim Wheeler, 62, a school building maintenance worker, didn’t know what to expect when he drove up to the corner of Longview and Pallet Mesa roads in Juniper Hills late Sunday morning.
His single-story home was in the path of the Bobcat fire when he last saw it Thursday.
For days he had been watching the fire creep toward the desert enclave.
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The blaze was burning on the nearby hillsides Wednesday. The next morning, the wind shifted, blowing fire deeper into Juniper Hills. Flames made their way along Pallet Creek, across from Wheeler’s home. Embers were igniting hot spots ahead of the fire.
Wheeler, a U.S. Navy veteran, said he grabbed whatever valuables he could and drove off in his black Chevy SSR.
California Photos: Bobcat fire rages in the Angeles National Forest Fears of a significant spread of the Bobcat fire dissipated as Santa Ana winds failed to materialize, but foothill communities remain on high alert.
As he sped away, he looked back and saw the fire approaching his home.
“If God wants to take my home then he’ll take it,” he recalled thinking as he drove.
The Bobcat fire has grown to more than 103,000 acres, making it one of the largest wildfires in Los Angeles County history. The blaze continued to threaten some desert communities as well as the Mt. Wilson Observatory in the San Gabriel Mountains on Sunday.
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The fire was no longer bearing down on foothill communities such as Arcadia and Monrovia to the south, but it continued to move into some remote areas in the Antelope Valley to the north, destroying homes and prompting numerous evacuations, officials said.
“We’re still in the thick of a good firefight,” Andrew Mitchell, public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said Sunday.
There were flare-ups overnight around Mt. Wilson, but firefighters on the ground and in the air were able to prevent any losses there, officials said.
L.A. County firefighter firefighter Tommy Davis douses a hot spot Sunday as the Bobcat fire burns in the northern Angeles National Forest foothills. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The fire has burned 103,135 acres and is only 15% contained, officials said. Fire officials were hoping that lower temperatures and calmer winds expected Monday and Tuesday might give them a chance to get the upper hand on the blaze.
“I think the next couple days we’ll start to really get a handle on this fire because the conditions will be right and we’ll be able to really start backing it with all our assets,” Mitchell said. He noted the number of people fighting the fire has steadily increased to more than 1,600, with help coming from as far as New York.
Fueled by gusty winds, the fire more than doubled in size in just a few days, growing nearly 20,000 acres from Friday to Saturday alone and making an aggressive push to the north.
The blaze chewed through an immense swath of the Angeles National Forest, becoming one of L.A. County’s largest in terms of acres burned.
The county’s largest fire, the Station blaze in 2009, burned 160,000 acres in the same Angeles National Forest area, killing two firefighters and destroying more than 200 structures.
The 2018 Woolsey fire burned 96,000 acres in L.A. and Ventura counties, destroying more than 1,600 structures and killing three people. The 1970 Clampitt fire in the northern San Fernando Valley burned 105,000 acres and killed four people.
The extent of the destruction wreaked by the Bobcat fire wasn’t immediately clear.
Crews still hadn’t been able to go out and perform a damage assessment as of Sunday morning, as firefighters were continuing to defend homes from flames, said Larry Smith, public information officer with the U.S. Forest Service.
A Joshua tree burns near a charred field in Juniper Hills. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
“At this time we’re just focusing on catching this thing,” Smith said.
Crews were also racing to put out hot spots, at times with the help of bystanders.
Melina Castillo was driving along Big Rock Creek Road, just past Valyermo, when she and her 65-year-old father, Manuel Castillo, noticed heavy smoke and flames.
“There’s some shovels in the back of the truck, and we’ve got to put it out,” she said.
The father and daughter, who had been on their way to check on their nearby vacation home, grabbed three buckets from the back of their silver Toyota Tundra. They ran across the creek, which they used to fill the buckets with water to douse the flames.
For about 15 minutes or more, they carried buckets of water from the creek to the flames. During one trip, Manuel Castillo saw a firefighter driving by and ran over to tell him flames were burning behind some homes.
The firefighter sped off in his pickup truck to seek more help while other firefighters noticed the smoke and flames and pulled over, using shovels to throw dirt on the fire.
Within minutes, the flames had been put out. Firefighters thanked the Castillos for helping to save two homes.
For Wheeler in Juniper Hills, Thursday marked the first time he had been forced to evacuate his home in the 28 years he’s lived there.
There had been brush fires before, but firefighters had managed to knock them out. Even when the Station fire threatened the community, the firefighters had managed to keep it at bay.
But this fire was different. For up to 15 minutes the winds had pushed the fire down, burning homes, power lines and cars.
The remains of a burned home are left after the Bobcat fire swept through the Juniper Hills area. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Wheeler said he drove down and parked off the road. He said that the evacuation center was too far for him and that he didn’t have enough money to get a hotel. So he slept on top of his truck bed until Sunday morning, when he drove back up the road and saw how far the fire had reached, which homes had been saved. Then he saw his blue house. It was standing.
“I’m thankful to God he kept it safe,” he said.
But it wasn’t just God he thanked. He knew the firefighters had worked hard to keep many homes in the area from burning down.
“L.A. County Fire saved my home,” he said. “They saved this place.”
Standing outside his home, he saw that flames had burned the corner of his 5-acre property. That was the extent of the damage.
The Bobcat fire was one of 27 major wildfires that nearly 19,000 firefighters were battling across the state Sunday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The fires together have killed 26 people and destroyed more than 6,100 structures since mid-August, Cal Fire said.
Fifteen deaths have been linked to the North Complex fire, which had burned over 293,000 acres in Butte, Plumas and Yuba counties as of Sunday. Crews reported progress, with containment increasing from 58% Saturday to 64% by Sunday night.
To the south, a firefighter died last week while battling the El Dorado fire in the San Bernardino National Forest.
That fire, which officials say was sparked by a pyrotechnic device used during a gender reveal party, had burned 22,489 acres and was 59% contained Sunday, down from 66% last week. The drop in containment reflected both the growth in acreage and a controlled burning operation that caused part of the fire line to be reclassified from contained to uncontained, said Cathey Mattingly, public information officer with Cal Fire in San Bernardino.
Firefighters were hoping to take advantage of a couple of days of calm winds and better humidity to get a handle on the blaze.
“But the long-term forecast is expecting some more possible wind activity later in the week,” Mattingly said, “so we’re just kind of taking it day by day right now.”


latimes--2020-09-19--How bad is all that wildfire smoke to our long-term health? 'Frankly, we don't really know'

For weeks , millions of Californians were smothered by smoke from a record explosion of wildfires burning through grass , shrubs , conifer forests , houses and mobile home parks .
Eyes watered .
Lungs burned .
Skies glowed orange .
People suffered sore throats , headaches and chest pains .
Many cloistered themselves indoors as pollution spiked to “ hazardous ” levels , or worse , on the Air Quality Index .
While most people were not threatened directly by fires burning up and down the West Coast , smoke transported health dangers to nearly every corner of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aware of no precedent for so many people breathing such high levels of wildfire smoke for so long .
Even as air quality begins to improve , many remain worried about long-term health impacts .
“ Frankly , we don ’ t really know about the long-term effects of wildfire smoke because community exposures haven ’ t been long-term before , ” said Dr. John Balmes , a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco and a member of the California Air Resources Board .
Health experts are fairly certain that such levels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the immediate term by aggravating chronic lung and heart conditions , triggering asthma attacks , strokes and heart attacks .
Scientists also suspect that heavy smoke has lowered people ’ s defenses against the coronavirus , and put them at greater risk of severe symptoms .
But the question of lasting health damage remains hazier .
Though the link between chronic exposure to the fine-particle pollution in urban smog and long-term health problems is well-established thanks to thousands of studies and decades of research , there has been relatively little research when it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long-term consequences is critical , scientists said , because wildfire smoke is a growing health hazard , responsible for an increasing share of the fine-particle pollution across the Western U.S. And with climate change warming and drying out landscapes , helping to fuel bigger , more intense fires , you can expect more smoky days in the future .
In just the last month , fires have generated both the highest readings and most widespread unhealthy levels of fine-particle pollution since continuous monitoring began in the late 1990s , California air quality officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the firestorm , about half of California ’ s population — an estimated 19.6 million people — experienced levels of wildfire smoke exceeding health standards , mostly north of the Grapevine , according to the state Air Resources Board .
By last weekend , the smoke had spread across Southern California and to nearly every corner of the state , with almost 95 percent of Californians exposed to unhealthy pollution levels , the air quality agency estimated .
Monitoring data released this week by the Air Resources Board showed that 15 of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ record in California have occurred during the fires over the last month .
The highest concentration yet came on Tuesday in Mammoth Lakes , where concentrations of tiny soot particles known as PM2.5 reached 660 micrograms per cubic meter — more than 18 times the federal health standard of 35 and beyond the range of the Air Quality Index .
“ These are unprecedented levels of air pollution , ” said Bonnie Holmes-Gen , chief of the Air Resources Board ’ s health and exposure assessment branch .
Large areas of California have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ past .
The most widespread episode prior to this year , according to air quality officials , was during the 2018 Camp fire , when unhealthy pollution spread across the entire northern portion of the state .
The smoke lasted about 13 days , impacting about 60 % of California ’ s population .
Fires in the summer of 2008 also brought weeks of widespread unhealthy smoke to northern and central California .
Like tobacco , without the nicotine Wildfire smoke is distinct from typical urban smog , and consists of thousands of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on what type of fuel was burned and when .
A big , hot fire burns material more completely , breaking fuels down to their more essential elements .
A cooler fire , one that leaves smoldering black and brown wood behind , can release more toxic particulates , experts say .
And a fire that burns homes can release a stew of potentially more toxic chemicals from plastics , furniture and building materials .
As a product of the combustion of wood , leaves and other material , wildfire smoke is closer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and consists of carbon-based particles with “ nasty , complex hydrocarbons on their surface ” and irritant gases that are known carcinogens , said Balmes .
“ The dose is usually less than inhaling directly from a burning cigarette , ” Balmes said .
“ But the dose makes the poison … and the community is getting a bigger dose than we ’ ve ever had before because of these multiple days in a row of bad air quality.
” Some of the world ’ s most intense fires produce smoke that lofts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ miles around the globe , said Barry Lefero , manager of NASA ’ s Tropospheric Composition Program , which uses a DC-8 jetliner that circles the globe studying wildfire smoke .
With big fires “ the smoke goes higher in the air , it ’ s more buoyant , it can travel farther , but at night the fires lay down , the smoke is trapped and it fumigates the valleys that fill up with smoke.
” Of all the ingredients in wildfire smoke , the most concerning to scientists are microscopic particles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 2.5 microns in diameter .
They can be inhaled deep into the lungs and pass into the bloodstream .
In the short term , those tiny specks of pollution can irritate the eyes , nose and throat and cause coughing , tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing , and even flu-like symptoms in otherwise healthy people .
But they pose more serious risks to young children , pregnant women , outdoor workers , the elderly and especially people with chronic health conditions such as asthma , lung disease and heart disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of wildfire smoke along the West Coast have likely increased the number of patients seeking medical care for asthma attacks , heart attacks , strokes and other health problems aggravated by air pollution .
“ And the longer we have bad air , ” he said , ” the greater the cumulative exposure , and that increases the risk of these adverse outcomes.
” Stanford University researchers Marshall Burke and Sam Heft-Neal did a “ back-of-envelope ” calculation estimating that smoke exposure has likely caused 1,000 to 3,000 excess deaths and an additional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last month .
Francesca Dominici , a professor of biostatistics at Harvard T.H .
Chan School of Public Health , said their estimate is credible and the general approach makes sense .
“ There is a large epidemiological literature that shows strong evidence of short-term changes in PM2.5 and increased mortality risk , ” she said .
The concerns about increased risk of COVID-19 come from past research showing dirty air makes people more susceptible to contracting similar respiratory infections , such as pneumonia , and of developing more severe symptoms .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the coronavirus .
Even if the number of new cases remains the same , there could be more serious health complications because of the way air pollution inflames the lungs and “ just doesn ’ t allow the immune system to respond correctly to this kind of infection , ” said Tarik Benmarhnia , a professor of epidemiology at UC San Diego ’ s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and School of Medicine .
“ I really hope I ’ m wrong , but what we may expect to see in the next few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rate from COVID-19.
” Scientists have good reasons to expect that chronic exposure to wildfire smoke may inflict some of the same long-term health damage as typical urban fine-particle pollution , or soot .
That type of pollution , which in California is generated mainly by motor vehicles , is linked to an array of health problems , including thousands of early deaths each year .
Wildfire smoke could even be more harmful , said Benmarhnia , who cited studies showing that the same concentrations of fine particles , when coming from wildfires @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toxic for the respiratory system compared to PM2.5 from other sources.
” Scientists don ’ t know for sure because of a dearth of long-term health research .
For all the years of study we ’ ve devoted to vehicle exhaust and cigarettes , our understanding of this fundamental element in our planet ’ s existence is in its relative infancy .
The few studies that have been completed have usually involved groups like wildland firefighters .
There is research suggesting they have increased risk of heart disease and lung cancer , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already known about exposure to PM2.5 from other sources of pollution , such as traffic .
One of the most relevant studies followed not humans , but baby rhesus macaque monkeys at a primate research center on the UC Davis campus who were exposed to high levels of PM2.5 pollution over a 10-day period during the wildfires in the summer of 2008 .
The study found that the monkeys had reduced function in their lungs and immune systems years later , compared to monkeys that were not exposed to high pollution levels as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after shorter exposures , and lower pollution levels than Californians have lived with since August , the Air Resources Board ’ s Holmes-Gen noted .
A flurry of new research into the health effects of the smoke is now underway .
Rebecca Schmidt , a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at UC Davis , is conducting a long-term study into effects of smoke on pregnant women that began in response to the 2017 fires in Napa and Sonoma .
She heard from expecting mothers who were affected by the smoke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other symptoms and wanted to know what the science said about the impacts on their developing babies .
“ There really wasn ’ t much out there , ” Schmidt said .
“ There were just a couple studies.
” Schmidt ’ s project now includes about 400 women who were pregnant during or shortly after wildfires in Northern California over the past three years .
She plans to recruit additional participants this year who may have faced even higher , cumulative smoke exposure due to the recent fires .
“ What @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see what ’ s happening long term and whether those early biological responses are going to have long-term impacts , and that we just don ’ t know yet , ” she said .
“ There ’ s just very little known about wildfire , specifically smoke exposure , and long-term health impacts.
” Meanwhile , another ongoing study in Montana has reported troubling new findings that suggest wildfire smoke impairs people ’ s lungs long after the smoke clears .
Researchers assessed the health of people in the small community of Seeley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blanketed with heavy wildfire smoke for 49 days during devastating wildfires in 2017 .
Follow-up tests showed they had decreased lung function for two years after the fires , with the percentage of residents who fell below normal levels more than doubling in 2018 and remaining low a year later .
As University of Montana immunologist Christopher Migliaccio and colleagues wrote in a study published last month , '' these findings suggest that wildfire smoke can have long-lasting effects on human health.
” Though at least some portion of California ’ s PM2.5 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in years past most of it has been generated by motor vehicles and industrial sources .
But as vehicle emissions decline and the climate warms , scientists expect the bulk of that pollution to come from wildfire smoke within the next few decades .
“ We ’ ve always been exposed to smoke , but it ’ s getting worse these days , ” said Carsten Warneke , a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration .
“ And we notice it much more as we ’ re getting all our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of researchers coined the term “ smoke wave ” to describe episodes of high air pollution from wildfire that last two or more days .
In a 2016 study , they projected a big increase in the frequency and intensity of smoke wave events that will affect tens of millions of people across the western U.S. if greenhouse gases continue to rise moderately .
Northern California and Western Oregon are among the areas “ likely to suffer the highest exposure to wildfire smoke in the future.
” California regulators , who have for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on smog , are also being forced to confront wildfires as an increasing threat to their work to reduce emissions and slow global warming .
“ We ’ re concerned about smoke pollution undercutting all the efforts we ’ re making to reduce particle pollution and clean up the air , ” said Holmes-Gen of the state Air Resources Board .
Scientists also worry about what the future holds because of the role wildfire emissions play in what ’ s called a “ climate feedback loop , ” in which the global warming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emissions lead to higher temperatures , which then create drier , more fire-prone conditions , ” researchers at the World Resources Institute think tank wrote in a blog post this week .
“ With more fires comes more emissions , perpetuating the entire cycle .
”

Breya Hodge walks her dog Sophie as smoke from the Bobcat fire and other blazes casts a pall over downtown Los Angeles recently.
For weeks, millions of Californians were smothered by smoke from a record explosion of wildfires burning through grass, shrubs, conifer forests, houses and mobile home parks. Eyes watered. Lungs burned. Skies glowed orange.
People suffered sore throats, headaches and chest pains. Many cloistered themselves indoors as pollution spiked to “hazardous” levels, or worse, on the Air Quality Index.
While most people were not threatened directly by fires burning up and down the West Coast, smoke transported health dangers to nearly every corner of the state. State air quality officials are aware of no precedent for so many people breathing such high levels of wildfire smoke for so long.
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Even as air quality begins to improve, many remain worried about long-term health impacts.
(Swetha Kannan / Los Angeles Times)
“Frankly, we don’t really know about the long-term effects of wildfire smoke because community exposures haven’t been long-term before,” said Dr. John Balmes, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco and a member of the California Air Resources Board.
Health experts are fairly certain that such levels of wildfire smoke did significant harm in the immediate term by aggravating chronic lung and heart conditions, triggering asthma attacks, strokes and heart attacks. Scientists also suspect that heavy smoke has lowered people’s defenses against the coronavirus, and put them at greater risk of severe symptoms.
But the question of lasting health damage remains hazier. Though the link between chronic exposure to the fine-particle pollution in urban smog and long-term health problems is well-established thanks to thousands of studies and decades of research, there has been relatively little research when it comes to wildfire smoke.
Understanding the long-term consequences is critical, scientists said, because wildfire smoke is a growing health hazard, responsible for an increasing share of the fine-particle pollution across the Western U.S. And with climate change warming and drying out landscapes, helping to fuel bigger, more intense fires, you can expect more smoky days in the future.
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Unprecedented pollution
In just the last month, fires have generated both the highest readings and most widespread unhealthy levels of fine-particle pollution since continuous monitoring began in the late 1990s, California air quality officials said.
In the first few weeks of the firestorm, about half of California’s population — an estimated 19.6 million people — experienced levels of wildfire smoke exceeding health standards, mostly north of the Grapevine, according to the state Air Resources Board. By last weekend, the smoke had spread across Southern California and to nearly every corner of the state, with almost 95 percent of Californians exposed to unhealthy pollution levels, the air quality agency estimated.
Monitoring data released this week by the Air Resources Board showed that 15 of the top 20 fine-particle pollution readings on record in California have occurred during the fires over the last month. The highest concentration yet came on Tuesday in Mammoth Lakes, where concentrations of tiny soot particles known as PM2.5 reached 660 micrograms per cubic meter — more than 18 times the federal health standard of 35 and beyond the range of the Air Quality Index.
“These are unprecedented levels of air pollution,” said Bonnie Holmes-Gen, chief of the Air Resources Board’s health and exposure assessment branch.
Large areas of California have been hit with heavy smoke in the past. The most widespread episode prior to this year, according to air quality officials, was during the 2018 Camp fire, when unhealthy pollution spread across the entire northern portion of the state. The smoke lasted about 13 days, impacting about 60% of California’s population. Fires in the summer of 2008 also brought weeks of widespread unhealthy smoke to northern and central California.
Like tobacco, without the nicotine
Wildfire smoke is distinct from typical urban smog, and consists of thousands of compounds. Its composition varies widely depending on what type of fuel was burned and when.
A big, hot fire burns material more completely, breaking fuels down to their more essential elements. A cooler fire, one that leaves smoldering black and brown wood behind, can release more toxic particulates, experts say. And a fire that burns homes can release a stew of potentially more toxic chemicals from plastics, furniture and building materials.
As a product of the combustion of wood, leaves and other material, wildfire smoke is closer to tobacco smoke than diesel exhaust, and consists of carbon-based particles with “nasty, complex hydrocarbons on their surface” and irritant gases that are known carcinogens, said Balmes.
“The dose is usually less than inhaling directly from a burning cigarette,” Balmes said. “But the dose makes the poison … and the community is getting a bigger dose than we’ve ever had before because of these multiple days in a row of bad air quality.”
Some of the world’s most intense fires produce smoke that lofts into the atmosphere and wraps thousands of miles around the globe, said Barry Lefero, manager of NASA’s Tropospheric Composition Program, which uses a DC-8 jetliner that circles the globe studying wildfire smoke. With big fires “the smoke goes higher in the air, it’s more buoyant, it can travel farther, but at night the fires lay down, the smoke is trapped and it fumigates the valleys that fill up with smoke.”
Short-term effects
Of all the ingredients in wildfire smoke, the most concerning to scientists are microscopic particles known as PM2.5 because they are less than 2.5 microns in diameter. They can be inhaled deep into the lungs and pass into the bloodstream.
In the short term, those tiny specks of pollution can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and cause coughing, tightness in the chest and difficulty breathing, and even flu-like symptoms in otherwise healthy people. But they pose more serious risks to young children, pregnant women, outdoor workers, the elderly and especially people with chronic health conditions such as asthma, lung disease and heart disease.
Balmes said that such high levels of wildfire smoke along the West Coast have likely increased the number of patients seeking medical care for asthma attacks, heart attacks, strokes and other health problems aggravated by air pollution.
“And the longer we have bad air,” he said, ”the greater the cumulative exposure, and that increases the risk of these adverse outcomes.”
Stanford University researchers Marshall Burke and Sam Heft-Neal did a “back-of-envelope” calculation estimating that smoke exposure has likely caused 1,000 to 3,000 excess deaths and an additional 5,000 emergency room visits in California in the last month.
Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said their estimate is credible and the general approach makes sense.
“There is a large epidemiological literature that shows strong evidence of short-term changes in PM2.5 and increased mortality risk,” she said.
What are the health consequences of the terrible air quality experienced recently in CA due to wildfires? In a back-of-envelope, we calculate that smoke exposure has likely caused 1000-3000 excess deaths in CA in the last month. Blog+thread https://t.co/5FmhaxGewB — Marshall Burke (@MarshallBBurke) September 11, 2020
The concerns about increased risk of COVID-19 come from past research showing dirty air makes people more susceptible to contracting similar respiratory infections, such as pneumonia, and of developing more severe symptoms. Scientists suspect that is also happening with the coronavirus.
Even if the number of new cases remains the same, there could be more serious health complications because of the way air pollution inflames the lungs and “just doesn’t allow the immune system to respond correctly to this kind of infection,” said Tarik Benmarhnia, a professor of epidemiology at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and School of Medicine. “I really hope I’m wrong, but what we may expect to see in the next few weeks is an increase in the fatality rate from COVID-19.”
Long-term risks
Scientists have good reasons to expect that chronic exposure to wildfire smoke may inflict some of the same long-term health damage as typical urban fine-particle pollution, or soot. That type of pollution, which in California is generated mainly by motor vehicles, is linked to an array of health problems, including thousands of early deaths each year.
Wildfire smoke could even be more harmful, said Benmarhnia, who cited studies showing that the same concentrations of fine particles, when coming from wildfires, “seem to be way more toxic for the respiratory system compared to PM2.5 from other sources.”
Scientists don’t know for sure because of a dearth of long-term health research. For all the years of study we’ve devoted to vehicle exhaust and cigarettes, our understanding of this fundamental element in our planet’s existence is in its relative infancy.
The few studies that have been completed have usually involved groups like wildland firefighters. There is research suggesting they have increased risk of heart disease and lung cancer, but that is mostly extrapolated from what is already known about exposure to PM2.5 from other sources of pollution, such as traffic.
One of the most relevant studies followed not humans, but baby rhesus macaque monkeys at a primate research center on the UC Davis campus who were exposed to high levels of PM2.5 pollution over a 10-day period during the wildfires in the summer of 2008. The study found that the monkeys had reduced function in their lungs and immune systems years later, compared to monkeys that were not exposed to high pollution levels as infants.
But even those findings were after shorter exposures, and lower pollution levels than Californians have lived with since August, the Air Resources Board’s Holmes-Gen noted.
Lingering questions
A flurry of new research into the health effects of the smoke is now underway.
Rebecca Schmidt, a professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at UC Davis, is conducting a long-term study into effects of smoke on pregnant women that began in response to the 2017 fires in Napa and Sonoma. She heard from expecting mothers who were affected by the smoke, dealing with coughs, watery eyes and other symptoms and wanted to know what the science said about the impacts on their developing babies.
“There really wasn’t much out there,” Schmidt said. “There were just a couple studies.”
Schmidt’s project now includes about 400 women who were pregnant during or shortly after wildfires in Northern California over the past three years. She plans to recruit additional participants this year who may have faced even higher, cumulative smoke exposure due to the recent fires.
“What we really are interested in is to see what’s happening long term and whether those early biological responses are going to have long-term impacts, and that we just don’t know yet,” she said. “There’s just very little known about wildfire, specifically smoke exposure, and long-term health impacts.”
Meanwhile, another ongoing study in Montana has reported troubling new findings that suggest wildfire smoke impairs people’s lungs long after the smoke clears.
Researchers assessed the health of people in the small community of Seeley Lake, outside Missoula, which was blanketed with heavy wildfire smoke for 49 days during devastating wildfires in 2017. Follow-up tests showed they had decreased lung function for two years after the fires, with the percentage of residents who fell below normal levels more than doubling in 2018 and remaining low a year later.
As University of Montana immunologist Christopher Migliaccio and colleagues wrote in a study published last month,”these findings suggest that wildfire smoke can have long-lasting effects on human health.”
Smoke waves, climate impacts
Though at least some portion of California’s PM2.5 pollution has always come from fires, in years past most of it has been generated by motor vehicles and industrial sources. But as vehicle emissions decline and the climate warms, scientists expect the bulk of that pollution to come from wildfire smoke within the next few decades.
“We’ve always been exposed to smoke, but it’s getting worse these days,” said Carsten Warneke, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “And we notice it much more as we’re getting all our other air pollution better.”
Another team of researchers coined the term “smoke wave” to describe episodes of high air pollution from wildfire that last two or more days. In a 2016 study, they projected a big increase in the frequency and intensity of smoke wave events that will affect tens of millions of people across the western U.S. if greenhouse gases continue to rise moderately. Northern California and Western Oregon are among the areas “likely to suffer the highest exposure to wildfire smoke in the future.”
California regulators, who have for decades fought a slow but successful war on smog, are also being forced to confront wildfires as an increasing threat to their work to reduce emissions and slow global warming.
“We’re concerned about smoke pollution undercutting all the efforts we’re making to reduce particle pollution and clean up the air,” said Holmes-Gen of the state Air Resources Board.
Scientists also worry about what the future holds because of the role wildfire emissions play in what’s called a “climate feedback loop,” in which the global warming begets more warming.
“Increased global emissions lead to higher temperatures, which then create drier, more fire-prone conditions,” researchers at the World Resources Institute think tank wrote in a blog post this week. “With more fires comes more emissions, perpetuating the entire cycle.”


latimes--2020-09-17--Smoky air from fires keep Yosemite shut; some roads within park reopen

Yosemite National Park closed temporarily Thursday and will remain closed because of smoky skies and hazardous air quality .
Roads within the park , however , are open for visitors who drive through without stopping , according to a park statement Sunday .
Because of smoke from nearby fires , the air over the park will be in the “ unhealthy to hazardous range over the next several days , ” a prior statement said .
Yosemite will be making decisions on reopening with local and federal public health officials .
“ The park will reopen when conditions improve and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ park visitors and employees to engage in regular park activities , ” Sunday ’ s statement said .
Roads that drivers may use include Wawona Road ( Highway 41 ) , the El Portal Road ( Highway 140 ) , and the Big Oak Flat and Tioga roads ( Highway 120 ) .
Glacier Point and Mariposa Grove roads remain closed along with lodging , restaurants , campgrounds and visitor centers .
AirNow.gov showed a 681 pollution score for air in Yosemite Valley last week ; hazardous air scores at 301 and above @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The higher the air-quality index number , the more polluted the air .
People breathing hazardous air should stay inside and avoid activity .
The biggest fire near Yosemite is the Creek fire , which started Sept. 4 and had grown to 278,368 acres as of Monday morning .
It ’ s burning in the Sierra south of Yosemite .
Also , two small lightning fires were burning in the southern part of the park .
Sequoia National Park in the western Sierra shut Tuesday because of proximity to the Sequoia Complex @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lightning blaze made up of the Castle and Shotgun fires , according to fire-reporting website InciWeb .
It started Aug. 24 .
Sister park Kings Canyon also closed 5 p.m. Thursday because of smoke and hazardous air quality .
It too will likely stay closed through the weekend .
All of California ’ s 18 national forests are closed because of extreme fire risk .

Thick smoke shrouds Half Dome over Yosemite Valley in a view from Sentinel Bridge over the Merced River last week.
Yosemite National Park closed temporarily Thursday and will remain closed because of smoky skies and hazardous air quality. Roads within the park, however, are open for visitors who drive through without stopping, according to a park statement Sunday.
Because of smoke from nearby fires, the air over the park will be in the “unhealthy to hazardous range over the next several days,” a prior statement said.
Yosemite will be making decisions on reopening with local and federal public health officials. “The park will reopen when conditions improve and allow for the health and safety of park visitors and employees to engage in regular park activities,” Sunday’s statement said.
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Roads that drivers may use include Wawona Road (Highway 41), the El Portal Road (Highway 140), and the Big Oak Flat and Tioga roads (Highway 120). Glacier Point and Mariposa Grove roads remain closed along with lodging, restaurants, campgrounds and visitor centers.
AirNow.gov showed a 681 pollution score for air in Yosemite Valley last week; hazardous air scores at 301 and above, with a scale starting at zero. The higher the air-quality index number, the more polluted the air. People breathing hazardous air should stay inside and avoid activity.
The biggest fire near Yosemite is the Creek fire, which started Sept. 4 and had grown to 278,368 acres as of Monday morning. It’s burning in the Sierra south of Yosemite. Also, two small lightning fires were burning in the southern part of the park.
Sequoia National Park in the western Sierra shut Tuesday because of proximity to the Sequoia Complex or SQF fire, described as a lightning blaze made up of the Castle and Shotgun fires, according to fire-reporting website InciWeb. It started Aug. 24. Sister park Kings Canyon also closed 5 p.m. Thursday because of smoke and hazardous air quality. It too will likely stay closed through the weekend.
All of California’s 18 national forests are closed because of extreme fire risk.


latimes--2020-09-22--People in this California town didn't have much.  Then fire took it away

Berry Creek has been many things in its long history — a stagecoach stop , a lumber town , a vacation spot , a gold mining camp .
It is home to retirees from crowded , expensive cities , marijuana growers and loners — lots of loners .
Now , Berry Creek has a new and terrible distinction .
When the North Complex West Zone fire swept through this wooded enclave about two weeks ago , it killed more people and destroyed more homes here than anywhere else in its destructive path .
Fire Station 61 burned to the ground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the volunteer company , lost his home in the blaze .
Only one of the seven current or former firefighters still has a house to go back to when evacuation orders are lifted .
Berry Creek Elementary School is a tangle of charred metal and a single red door .
The market is gone .
The Guild Hall is a memory , although its cream-colored sign still stands on Bald Rock Road inviting residents to play bingo on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m .
There were three churches here on Sept. 7 .
One @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Of the 14 who have been identified , 12 called Berry Creek home .
And most of the 1,238 structures destroyed in the fire used to rise along Berry Creek ’ s twisty gravel roads , on its heavily wooded hillsides , beside its gurgling streams .
Kristal Buchholz lived here , before she and her family were forced to flee late on Sept. 8 .
They were able to bring just three of their dogs with them , praying the others would survive the heat , smoke and flames .
Buchholz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her van on her parents ’ 20-plus acres .
Her mom and stepfather lived in a house on the secluded property .
Together they had 13 dogs , among them Buddy , Two Bit , Jake Jr. , Goldy , Mia and Chewy .
Buchholz ’ s stepdad has been here since 1963 .
He ’ s a Vietnam vet , 70 years old , stronger and wiser than any boyfriend she ’ s ever had .
“ He doesn ’ t do well in population with a lot of people , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to be a hermit up there .
He is able to have his small circle of friends and keep to himself .
He knows how to cut wood.
” The 43-year-old moved here three years ago from Idaho to be with her parents .
She stayed for them — and because it ’ s beautiful and quiet and she could grow a little cannabis and stay away from the crowds in “ town , ” aka Oroville , population 20,000 or so .
She has “ social anxiety hella tough , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t have to deal with people.
” Now , she sleeps in her van in the parking lot of a Motel 6 .
The Red Cross has placed her parents , like dozens of other evacuees , in the motel , along with their dogs .
Their property on twisty Gamble Road was destroyed in the blaze .
All that remains are the skeletons of burned-out pickup trucks , the husks of torched appliances , piles of rubble .
And , they later learned , the carcasses of four dogs .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a little and things are starting to calm down , ” she said in a text Friday morning , “ we are faced with a future [ that ’ s ] a decision of what to do next .
A little lost , a little uncertain .
Nothing but time to think about all that ’ s happened.
” But “ the creek is no place for quitters , ” she wrote .
“ That ’ s how I know Berry Creek will recover — because we have love , camaraderie and believe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind of a place is Berry Creek ?
If you ask Loren Gill , chairman of the Berry Creek Community Assn.
’ s executive council , it isn ’ t a place at all .
There is no downtown .
Homes are tucked away from the main roads , far from the gaze of those passing through to someplace else .
Sure , “ there ’ s a dot on the map called Berry Creek , ” he will tell you .
“ But it moves around a lot.… Nobody knows where Berry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Creek — the flatlanders .
It isn ’ t a place .
It ’ s a ZIP Code.
” Gill disputes population estimates of around 1,200 .
He says Cal Fire several years back estimated that Berry Creek has around that many houses , which means there could be as many as 4,000 people here .
“ But I don ’ t know , ” he acknowledges .
“ I ’ m guessing.
” Two years ago , the notorious Camp fire burned right up to the edge of ZIP Code 95916 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ The current blaze marks the fourth time in recent years that residents of Berry Creek have had to hightail it out because of wildfire .
That , Gill said , is a problem .
But not in the way you might think .
Some of the region ’ s hardy residents have become inured to a threat that never materialized .
Until now .
“ They didn ’ t leave as soon as they should , ” the 78-year-old retired electrical contractor said .
“ Even us , we stayed until 10 p.m. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ didn ’ t see a single firetruck when we left .
Heading down the road , as we passed the post office , 27 firetrucks were coming up.
” But by then , much of Berry Creek was burning .
Gill ’ s house survived the fire , but his garage wasn ’ t as lucky .
Although the volunteer firefighters tried valiantly to save their neighbors ’ homes , “ it was a disaster.
” Independent-mindedness is a common trait in these parts .
The Chico Enterprise-Record did an article in 2008 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to create the Berry Creek Community Assn .
“ Part of the reason Berry Creek residents choose to live where they do , ” the paper wrote , “ is because they are an independent lot , who rebel at being told what to do , even if it is a majority of their neighbors who want to do the telling.
” Berry Creek residents also are not accustomed to asking for help .
That became apparent on Friday morning during an emergency meeting convened by Rep. Doug LaMalfa ( R-Richvale ) to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ available as it struggles back from disaster .
There was a moment of silence for the men and women who died in the blaze .
A handful of requisite jabs by local politicians and the occasional resident at Gov .
Gavin Newsom and “ Big Government.
” Then , Shelby Boston , who is in charge of Butte County ’ s post-fire shelter and social service efforts , took the microphone .
“ I know , right now , you ’ re probably waking up and wishing it was just a bad dream @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she said .
“ It ’ s OK.
It ’ s OK to get mad .
It ’ s OK to be sad .
And it ’ s OK to ask for help .
Because I know many of you have probably never , ever wanted to receive any assistance from anyone , from the government .
But we ’ re here to help you.
” Many residents will need such help .
The population is so small that there ’ s only one school .
Poor enough so that 100 % of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ students received free or reduced-price lunch .
And in hazardous enough territory that fire insurance is out of many people ’ s price range — if it can be had at all .
Rankin , the volunteer fire chief , lives in a part of Berry Creek called Mountain House .
His family has roots in Oroville — a 22-mile drive south — going back more than a century .
A relative on his mother ’ s side was the first taxpayer in Butte County after it incorporated in 1850 .
He bought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the house himself .
He said his insurance company dropped him after the Camp fire laid waste to nearby Paradise , killing 85 people .
Rankin has spent every day since the North Complex West blaze began patrolling what ’ s left of Berry Creek and every night sleeping in a former firehouse there .
He plans to stay on the mountain “ till the fire threat ’ s done , ” he said .
“ I ’ m going to protect what ’ s left.
” He is not sure how , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the long haul .
“ I ’ m hoping to get some sort of government assistance and rebuild , ” he said .
“ And make it my home like it always has been .
With no insurance , it will be hard.
” And then there are renters , like Richard Riley and his extended family .
The 59-year-old arrived in Berry Creek about seven years ago .
He ’ d gotten divorced , lost his job at the Park N Sell in Oroville , moved his trailer up to his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ It ’ s a beautiful place , ” he said .
“ It ’ s peaceful , quiet , not town .
It ’ s gorgeous up there — or it was .
I could go anywhere on my [ all-terrain vehicle ] .
We had back roads .
We could ride everywhere.
” Riley , his two sons , three brothers and four dogs are staying at the Motel 6 in Oroville .
For the first week or so , they shared one room with a single bed .
On Thursday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they were able to spread out a little .
The fire destroyed the main house on the property , all the sheds , the water-pump house .
Riley ’ s trailer somehow survived .
The men don ’ t know whether their landlord will rebuild .
They don ’ t know how long they will be able to spend in the motel .
During the Camp fire , Riley said , they stayed at his nephew ’ s house until the danger passed .
Then , they were able to return home .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to go back to .

In the town of Berry Creek, the North Complex fire destroyed the homestead of Kristal Buchholz, her mother, Kathy Bartley, and her stepfather, a Vietnam veteran who likes the solitude.
Berry Creek has been many things in its long history — a stagecoach stop, a lumber town, a vacation spot, a gold mining camp. It is home to retirees from crowded, expensive cities, marijuana growers and loners — lots of loners.
Now, Berry Creek has a new and terrible distinction. When the North Complex West Zone fire swept through this wooded enclave about two weeks ago, it killed more people and destroyed more homes here than anywhere else in its destructive path.
Fire Station 61 burned to the ground. Chief Reed Rankin, who heads the volunteer company, lost his home in the blaze. Only one of the seven current or former firefighters still has a house to go back to when evacuation orders are lifted.
Ben Arnold, left, and Margaret Stewart, both with Los Angeles Fire Department Regional Task Force-9 along with working dog Veya, search rural Butte County for victims of the North Complex fire. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Berry Creek Elementary School is a tangle of charred metal and a single red door. The market is gone. The Guild Hall is a memory, although its cream-colored sign still stands on Bald Rock Road inviting residents to play bingo on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. There were three churches here on Sept. 7. One remains.
The fire claimed 15 lives. Of the 14 who have been identified, 12 called Berry Creek home. And most of the 1,238 structures destroyed in the fire used to rise along Berry Creek’s twisty gravel roads, on its heavily wooded hillsides, beside its gurgling streams.
Kristal Buchholz looks through donated clothing after her home was destroyed by the North Complex fire. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Kristal Buchholz lived here, before she and her family were forced to flee late on Sept. 8. They were able to bring just three of their dogs with them, praying the others would survive the heat, smoke and flames.
Buchholz and her boyfriend made a home in her van on her parents’ 20-plus acres. Her mom and stepfather lived in a house on the secluded property. Together they had 13 dogs, among them Buddy, Two Bit, Jake Jr., Goldy, Mia and Chewy.
Buchholz’s stepdad has been here since 1963. He’s a Vietnam vet, 70 years old, stronger and wiser than any boyfriend she’s ever had.
“He doesn’t do well in population with a lot of people,” she said. “He’s able to be a hermit up there. He is able to have his small circle of friends and keep to himself. He knows how to cut wood.”
The 43-year-old moved here three years ago from Idaho to be with her parents. She stayed for them — and because it’s beautiful and quiet and she could grow a little cannabis and stay away from the crowds in “town,” aka Oroville, population 20,000 or so. She has “social anxiety hella tough,” and in Berry Creek, “I don’t have to deal with people.”
Kristal Buchholz is now staying in her van with her boyfriend. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Now, she sleeps in her van in the parking lot of a Motel 6. The Red Cross has placed her parents, like dozens of other evacuees, in the motel, along with their dogs. Their property on twisty Gamble Road was destroyed in the blaze. All that remains are the skeletons of burned-out pickup trucks, the husks of torched appliances, piles of rubble.
And, they later learned, the carcasses of four dogs.
“Now that the smoke has cleared a little and things are starting to calm down,” she said in a text Friday morning, “we are faced with a future [that’s] a decision of what to do next. A little lost, a little uncertain. Nothing but time to think about all that’s happened.”
Kathy Bartley and her partner Gary, a Vietnam veteran, attend an emergency community meeting in Oroville after their home was destroyed by the North Complex fire. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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But “the creek is no place for quitters,” she wrote. “That’s how I know Berry Creek will recover — because we have love, camaraderie and believe in our town.”
And just what kind of a place is Berry Creek? If you ask Loren Gill, chairman of the Berry Creek Community Assn.’s executive council, it isn’t a place at all. There is no downtown. Homes are tucked away from the main roads, far from the gaze of those passing through to someplace else.
Sure, “there’s a dot on the map called Berry Creek,” he will tell you. “But it moves around a lot.… Nobody knows where Berry Creek is. Nobody outside of Berry Creek — the flatlanders. It isn’t a place. It’s a ZIP Code.”
Gill disputes population estimates of around 1,200. He says Cal Fire several years back estimated that Berry Creek has around that many houses, which means there could be as many as 4,000 people here. “But I don’t know,” he acknowledges. “I’m guessing.”
Residents of Berry Creek and the surrounding area attend an emergency community meeting in Oroville. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Two years ago, the notorious Camp fire burned right up to the edge of ZIP Code 95916. The community was forced to evacuate. The current blaze marks the fourth time in recent years that residents of Berry Creek have had to hightail it out because of wildfire.
That, Gill said, is a problem. But not in the way you might think. Some of the region’s hardy residents have become inured to a threat that never materialized. Until now.
“They didn’t leave as soon as they should,” the 78-year-old retired electrical contractor said. “Even us, we stayed until 10 p.m. [on Sept. 8]. We didn’t see a single firetruck when we left. Heading down the road, as we passed the post office, 27 firetrucks were coming up.”
A charred cat with its whiskers burned off waits for food at a home in Berry Creek. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
But by then, much of Berry Creek was burning.
Gill’s house survived the fire, but his garage wasn’t as lucky. Although the volunteer firefighters tried valiantly to save their neighbors’ homes, “it was a disaster.”
Independent-mindedness is a common trait in these parts. The Chico Enterprise-Record did an article in 2008 about residents’ lengthy and arduous efforts to create the Berry Creek Community Assn.
“Part of the reason Berry Creek residents choose to live where they do,” the paper wrote, “is because they are an independent lot, who rebel at being told what to do, even if it is a majority of their neighbors who want to do the telling.”
Berry Creek residents also are not accustomed to asking for help. That became apparent on Friday morning during an emergency meeting convened by Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) to brief the community on what resources are available as it struggles back from disaster.
A firefighter puts out hot spots in Berry Creek. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
There was a moment of silence for the men and women who died in the blaze. A handful of requisite jabs by local politicians and the occasional resident at Gov. Gavin Newsom and “Big Government.” Then, Shelby Boston, who is in charge of Butte County’s post-fire shelter and social service efforts, took the microphone.
“I know, right now, you’re probably waking up and wishing it was just a bad dream and you could go back,” she said. “It’s OK. It’s OK to get mad. It’s OK to be sad. And it’s OK to ask for help. Because I know many of you have probably never, ever wanted to receive any assistance from anyone, from the government. But we’re here to help you.”
Many residents will need such help. The population is so small that there’s only one school. Poor enough so that 100% of the school’s 60 or so students received free or reduced-price lunch. And in hazardous enough territory that fire insurance is out of many people’s price range — if it can be had at all.
Fire Chief Reed Rankin during a moment of silence during an emergency community meeting in Oroville. Rankin lost his home in the fire along with Fire Station 61. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Rankin, the volunteer fire chief, lives in a part of Berry Creek called Mountain House. His family has roots in Oroville — a 22-mile drive south — going back more than a century. A relative on his mother’s side was the first taxpayer in Butte County after it incorporated in 1850.
He bought the property 40 years ago and built the house himself. He said his insurance company dropped him after the Camp fire laid waste to nearby Paradise, killing 85 people. Rankin has spent every day since the North Complex West blaze began patrolling what’s left of Berry Creek and every night sleeping in a former firehouse there.
He plans to stay on the mountain “till the fire threat’s done,” he said. “I’m going to protect what’s left.”
He is not sure how, but he will remain in Mountain House for the long haul.
“I’m hoping to get some sort of government assistance and rebuild,” he said. “And make it my home like it always has been. With no insurance, it will be hard.”
Berry Creek was devastated by the North Complex fire. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
And then there are renters, like Richard Riley and his extended family. The 59-year-old arrived in Berry Creek about seven years ago. He’d gotten divorced, lost his job at the Park N Sell in Oroville, moved his trailer up to his brother’s property and stayed.
“It’s a beautiful place,” he said. “It’s peaceful, quiet, not town. It’s gorgeous up there — or it was. I could go anywhere on my [all-terrain vehicle]. We had back roads. We could ride everywhere.”
Riley, his two sons, three brothers and four dogs are staying at the Motel 6 in Oroville. For the first week or so, they shared one room with a single bed. On Thursday, another room became available, so they were able to spread out a little.
The fire destroyed the main house on the property, all the sheds, the water-pump house. Riley’s trailer somehow survived. The men don’t know whether their landlord will rebuild. They don’t know how long they will be able to spend in the motel.
During the Camp fire, Riley said, they stayed at his nephew’s house until the danger passed. Then, they were able to return home.
This time, they have no home to go back to.