Thursday, December 7, 2017 - Smoke Advisory Ventura County

VCAPCD Smoke Advisory for Thursday December 7th 2017

The Thomas Fire started on the evening of Monday, December 4th, 2017 near Highway 150 north of Santa Paula. As of 7 a.m., it has now burned 96,000 acres and is burning structures in the city of Ventura and near Highway 33. This fire is wind driven from a strong Santa Ana wind event and is causing heavy smoke in the plume downwind of the fire in and around the cities of Ventura, Santa Paula, and Ojai. The offshore winds will continue for the next couple of days and may shift to onshore for brief periods allowing for smoke to move into inland areas. 


Additionally, many other fires are burning in Southern California. The smoke from these fires can impact the eastern parts of Ventura County.


Smoke impacts from the devastating fires will be widespread. Visibility may be limited in some areas due to smoke and dust. 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 Environmental Protection Agency (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 at times. If you are in an area directly impacted by the 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). For more information or concerns, please call VCAPCD at (805) 662-6960. Thank you.