Tuesday, June 17, 2014 - Shirley Fire - Kern County

Good news this morning. Currently, the fire is 75% contained, after burning 2,646 acres.  Smoke has decreased dramatically overnight as firefighters continue to make good progress containing this fire.  The decrease in smoke output from this fire can be seen in the photos below taken from the Kernville #4 web camera.  The top image was taken this morning, and the second photo was taken the previous day.

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The air quality observed at Kernville (the nearest monitor to the fire, and the most representative of the localized air quality impact around Lake Isabella) is shown below, along with the corresponding air quality index and recommended actions to protect oneself.
 

The overnight data from the Kernville AQ monitor illustrates that PM2.5 values remained relatively low (< 20 ug/m3).

Today, strong west-northwest winds will continue before winds die down tomorrow.  So, fire activity and hence smoke production may increase today with the winds, but this will depend upon the progress of the crews to contain and mop-up this fire.

Beginning Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, as the winds die down, the nocturnal inversion is likely to strengthen, which by itself may cause concentrations of smoke to increase.  However, the expected decrease in smoke production will counter the poor night time dispersion, which should temper any significant increases in smoke near the surface.