As the controlled burns at the Angel Island State Park in California started again on Wednesday afternoon, residents in areas east of Angel Island complained that the smoke was affecting air quality.
Oakland, which lies just east of Angel Island, was most affected by the smoke. The nearby areas of Alameda, Berkeley and even Richmond seemed to be affected by the smoke from the controlled burns.
The burns are being conducted by the California State Parks, Cal Fire and the Marin County Fire Department. They initially started on September 8 but were paused briefly. The operation resumed on Wednesday afternoon and is expected to continue up to Saturday. A total of 260 acres will be burned, with only 62 acres burned so far.
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California State Parks has said that the prescribed burns are being conducted to reduce the risk of wildfire. It will cut down the size of the grassland significantly.
The California Fire Department has said that smoke will be visible in the areas of San Francisco Bay between 9am PDT and 6pm PDT till Saturday.
Air Quality Affected In The San Francisco Bay Area
SFGate, San Francisco’s local news portal, reported that the AQI in the Bay Area spiked to around 132 just after 2pm PDT when the controlled burns began on Wednesday. The reporters wrote that they were able to smell the smoke from their office in downtown San Francisco.
The cities of Richmond and San Pablo issued separate alerts about the smoke coming into the cities. Many residents from Oakland also reported the impact of the smoke on social media.
Burning Stops Halfway Again
According to NBC Bay Area, around 85 acres were treated and burned on Wednesday. The burns were stopped at around 2:15pm PDT, the report confirmed, citing Naftali Moed of California State Parks.
Moed also confirmed that no more burns are scheduled for this week and officials will look for another favorable weather condition in the future to finish burning the remaining 100 acres.
The prescribed burns to reduce the risk of wildfires are being financed by California’s Proposition 4.