Wildfire Smoke in the Bay Area

People who work primarily outdoors in San Francisco and whose health puts them at higher risk of illness or injury due to poor air quality can be eligible for sick pay through the city – and now, these workers can claim paid leave through Friday, too.

On any day a Spare the Air Alert has been declared, employees at San Francisco organizations with 100 or more workers who have heart or lung disease, certain respiratory conditions, are pregnant or are 60 years old or older can qualify for paid sick leave via the city’s Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL). Such a Spare the Air Alert was declared for Wednesday and Thursday, and has now been extended through Friday, too. Read the restrictions around PHEL and who can take it.

This sick pay is additional to any sick existing leave an employer provides, and an employee does not have to “max out” their current sick leave allowance before claiming PHEL. Eligible employees can claim PHEL regardless of their immigration or documentation status. Read our guide to speaking to a boss about claiming this sick pay.

The city continues to encourage residents to sign up for AlertSF, a notification system that will directly send alerts and instructions during emergencies and extreme weather events. To sign up, text your zip code to 888-777.

Occupational health and safety advocates are urging workers and employers to take precautions as wildfire smoke continues to taint Bay Area air quality. 

California employers must provide protections for workers in outdoor settings when the air quality reaches unhealthy levels, specifically an AQI of 151 or greater, which many parts of the Bay Area experienced on Wednesday. Those required protections include offering workers respirators such as N95 masks.

Explore current air quality conditions across the Bay Area here

“If you’re outside and you’re not feeling too great or you’re getting a headache, really talk to your employer about getting a respirator. And employers should encourage more breaks in ventilated areas where possible,” Karín Umfrey of the Oakland-based organization WorkSafe told KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero.

Public schools in Oakland will remain open this week unless poor air quality conditions significantly worsen, officials with the Oakland Unified School District told KQED’s Farida Jhabvala Romero.

“We know that if [kids] are at school they are a little more protected at least in certain circumstances than they might be if they are elsewhere, so we are very hesitant to cancel school,” said OUSD spokesperson John Sasaki.

The district said it has upgraded many of the air ventilation systems across its schools since the COVID-19 pandemic. Health experts recommend that children with asthma and other health conditions stay indoors when the air quality index is between 101 and 150, and all students should try to stay indoors when the AQI is higher than 150.

As poor air quality circulates around the Bay Area, San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Wednesday announced a new program aimed at purifying and controlling indoor air for community-based organizations during extreme weather events. 

The Extreme Weather Resilience Program will provide air filtration and air conditioning equipment to 90 organizations across the city, including Chinatown Community Development Center Affordable Housing, Wu Yee Children’s Services, Self-Help for the Elderly, Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco and the YMCA, according to a press release. 

“As climate change tests San Francisco’s capacity to adapt to new hazards, we will continue to protect our most vulnerable community members through initiatives like the Extreme Weather Resilience Program,” said Breed. “The current wildfires impacting our air quality this week are a critical reminder for why we must continue to invest in these measures.” 

The city’s Dept. of Emergency Management will also provide five years of filter replacements for all the air purifiers distributed through the program, which was partially funded through a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. 

“Heat-related and air quality illnesses are preventable,” said Grant Colfax, the city’s health director, in Wednesday’s press release. “This city-wide effort will keep heat-sensitive groups safe during extreme heat. Preparing for extreme heat and air quality emergencies helps avoid the biggest health dangers, such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke.”

Workers for San Francisco employers who primarily work outside and are at higher risk of illness or injury due to poor air quality may be eligible for sick pay through the city.

Employees at organizations with 100 or more workers who have heart or lung disease, certain respiratory conditions, are pregnant or are 60 years old or older can qualify for paid sick leave Wednesday and Thursday – and on any other day a Spare the Air Alert is declared – via the city’s Public Health Emergency Leave (PHEL). Undocumented employees are also covered under the sick leave plan. Read the restrictions around PHEL and who can take it.

This sick pay is additional to any sick existing leave an employer provides, and an employee does not have to “max out” their current sick leave allowance before claiming PHEL. Read our guide to speaking to a boss about claiming this sick pay.

The city also encourages residents to sign up for AlertSF, a notification system that will directly send alerts and instructions during emergencies and extreme weather events. To sign up, text your zip code to 888-777.

The smoke currently impacting the Bay Area is entirely from fires burning in the far northern reaches of the state. (If you only smell smoke outdoors, the San Francisco Fire Department says don’t call 9-1-1. If you see flames at a physical location, do call 9-1-1.)

But officials are keeping a close eye on fire conditions locally. 

A red flag warning will go into effect for parts of Napa and Sonoma counties from 11:00 p.m. Wednesday until 5:00 p.m. on Thursday due to increased potential for fire danger. The National Weather Service issues red flag warnings when weather conditions pose a heightened fire risk.

A combination of gusty northerly winds forecast to reach speeds up to 35 miles per hour combined with dry weather triggered the warning, which mostly impacts the interior mountain areas generally higher than 1,000 feet in elevation and in northern Sonoma and Napa counties. 

Outreach workers in San Francisco will be handing out N95 masks to unhoused residents around the city on Wednesday to protect those without access to shelter from wildfire smoke that drifted into the Bay Area this week, officials told KQED.

Masks will also be available at the city’s access points for homelessness services. Locations include:

Dolores Street Community Services, 2645 Mission Street

Episcopal Community Services, 123 10th Street (at Mission)

Saint Vincent dePaul Society, 525 5th St. (at Bryant)

Swords to Plowshares, 1060 Howard St. (at Russ)

The city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is also looking into offering more shelter beds for those seeking respite from the unhealthy air quality. 

Bay Area residents wondering why their throats feel scratchy and the air smells like campfire want to know: Where is all this smoke coming from? 

Today’s poor air quality has actually been brewing for several weeks, as northerly winds combined with a shift in atmospheric conditions allowed smoke from wildfires in northern Siskiyou, Trinity and Humboldt counties to drift to the Bay Area. 

More than 100 fires burning nearly 200,000 acres have started near the Oregon border since early August and six are still burning. Many were sparked by dry lightning. 

Air quality conditions are expected to improve in the Bay Area in a matter of days, reports KQED’s Dan Brekke, due to changes in the wind and pressure systems. But fires up north will likely continue. 

How bad is the Bay Area air quality?

The air quality index, known as the AQI, measures six major pollutants and two sizes of particulate matter—with PM2.5 being the main particulate pollutant from wildfire smoke. The AQI is then divided into six color-coded categories, starting with green, which means air quality is healthy. The index moves through, in increasing order of pollution, yellow, orange, red, purple and maroon. Maroon is equivalent to an AQI of more than 300, indicating a health emergency in which the air is hazardous for everyone to breathe.

In some parts of the Bay Area, the AQI on Tuesday night and Wednesday was over 150—considered unhealthy to be outdoors. People should limit their activities, especially those in sensitive groups, such as people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and pregnant people. 

You can also consider wearing a mask when outside.

How do you know what the air quality is where you live? You can rely on current Bay Area air quality maps, consult the government run AirNow sensors, or use the crowd-sourced PurpleAir maps that draw data from private personal air quality sensors.

If you’re looking to escape the smoke by heading to a local library, check if the branch is open first. San Francisco may close several local library branches today, because many of the 28 branches lack strong ventilation systems. 

“They rely on operable windows for ventilation so those locations really are reliant on whatever level of air quality is outdoors for the indoor air quality,” San Francisco City Librarian Michael Lambert told KQED’s Tara Siler. “The unhealthy air quality forced the closure of 18 branches early yesterday. The main library is among 11 libraries that have a ventilation system,” and can act as an air respite center, he said.

Smoke-related closures have disrupted life across the Bay Area. 

In-person classes at the University of San Francisco have been canceled Wednesday due to poor air quality from wildfire smoke, the school announced, including the university’s hilltop, downtown, Sacramento, San Jose and Santa Rosa campuses. Koret Health and Recreation Center, Gleeson Library and Zief Law Library will also be closed.

San Mateo Community College also canceled in-person classes, and left instructors to decide whether to hold online classes in lieu of in-person lectures. 

Schools in the San Francisco Unified and Oakland Unified districts meanwhile remain open. Officials in Oakland Unified said that as wildfires and smoke have grown more common in recent years, the school district has implemented several air quality protocols, including keeping windows and doors closed and turning HEPA air filters on high, as well as keeping activities indoors as much as possible. 

The Oakland Zoo has also closed its gates for the day, citing air quality concerns. 

Has your school or business closed due to wildfire smoke? Email sjohnson@kqed.org and we’ll add it to our list. 

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District on Wednesday morning issued a Spare the Air alert through Thursday, as smoke from multiple wildfires in far Northern California continued to blanket much of the Bay Area.

“Yesterday, the impact began around noon over the North Bay,” said Duc Nguyen of the air district, at a press conference Wednesday morning. “As the day progressed, more dense plumes from over the ocean entered the Golden Gate and filtered out across the Bay Area.”

By late Wednesday morning, the air quality index in some parts of the Bay Area had exceeded 150, which is considered unhealthy for most people.

Air district officials said they hadn’t expected to see this amount of smoke.

“A lot of the models we looked at predicted lower concentrations [of smoke] than what actually came into the Bay Area. So we had to up our forecast,” said air district manager Charley Knoderer.

During Spare the Air alerts residents are prohibited from burning wood, manufactured fire logs or other solid fuel — both indoors and outdoors — and are encouraged to drive less and stay indoors when possible.

Health experts are advising people in affected areas to limit outdoor activities and stay indoors with windows closed, when possible. That particularly goes for for sensitive groups, such as people with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and pregnant people.