Many people on the Central Coast woke up to hazy skies and the smell of smoke Wednesday morning.
The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) says the smoke is from wildfires burning in northern California and Oregon.
“Yesterday morning, we saw that conditions were kind of starting to push smoke into our area. We are monitoring it closely this morning, but many of us woke up smelling smoke in the air," said Meghan Field, SLO County APCD Air Quality Specialist and Public Information Officer.
Field says because of the way the smoke is moving into the Central Coast, it's hitting coastal regions a little bit stronger, including areas like southern San Luis Obispo County.
“The air quality to me has not been diminished in any way shape or form. Being from Minnesota, we’ve had horrible air quality all summer where it looks like a fog all day so to us this is relatively clear," said Jeffrey Hine, who was visiting downtown San Luis Obispo from Minnesota.
Air quality on Wednesday afternoon ranged from moderate to unhealthy levels for sensitive groups which means some people may experience symptoms like an itchy throat or eyes and even coughing.
“Right now, we're in that same kind of range where we're seeing moderate air quality, too unhealthy for sensitive groups. The people that are most impacted by those air quality levels are really the elderly people with preexisting conditions, heart and lung conditions, women that may be pregnant, and some of the very small children," Field added.
“It's going to have some impact on us and my family around here," said Sage Callis, Santa Maria resident.
If air quality reaches unhealthy levels, it could affect everyone.
The biggest precaution people can take is to avoid being outside and close all windows.
“They can also sign up for what we have that's called Air Aware text notifications and they're text alerts that go right to your phone. If the air quality deteriorates, becomes an unhealthy level, we push out text alerts to people's phones," Field said.
She adds that these conditions are expected to linger through the weekend.
If air quality gets worse, experts recommend staying indoors.
In Santa Barbara County, air quality conditions were listed as unhealthy for sensitive groups in Santa Maria and Lompoc, and by the afternoon, moderate for Santa Ynez. The Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District and County Public Health Department issued an Air Quality Alert.
For the latest air quality levels in SLO County, visit this website.
For the latest air quality levels in Santa Barbara County, visit this website.
