Saturday, December 9, 2017 - Ventura County - Smoke Advisory

VCAPCD Smoke Advisory for Saturday December 9th 2017

The Thomas Fire started on the evening of Monday, December 4th, 2017 near Highway 150 north of Santa Paula. As of 10 a.m. on December 9th, it has now burned 148,000 acres and is 15% contained. This fire is wind driven from a strong Santa Ana wind event and is causing heavy smoke in the plume and downwind of the fire in and around the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Santa Paula, and Ojai. Offshore winds will dominate through the weekend. However, there may be brief periods of onshore winds that will allow for smoke to move inland, especially along the coastal plains. Additionally, many other fires are burning in Southern California. The smoke from these fires may impact the eastern parts of Ventura County.


Smoke impacts from these devastating fires are widespread. Air quality should be considered unhealthy in areas directly impacted by smoke. In the Ojai Valley and surrounding areas, the air quality is very unhealthful, even reaching hazardous levels at times. Hazardous is defined by the EPA as "Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.” Also, all of the coastal plains are experiencing unhealthy air.


If you are in an area directly impacted by smoke, please exercise extreme caution and avoid vigorous outdoor or indoor exertion. People with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly, and children should remain indoors. Run your air conditioner if you have one. Keep the filter clean and fresh air intake closed. Close all windows and doors that lead outside to prevent bringing additional smoke inside. If this is not an option or it becomes extremely hot inside, please seek alternate shelter.


For information regarding the fire, evacuation notices, road closures…etc…please check readyventuracounty.org or the Twitter feed for the Ventura County Fire Department Public Information Officer, @vcfd_pio. Please check our website, vcapcd.org, or our Twitter feed for the latest updates (@vcapcd). Thank you.