From Santa Cruz ... air quality is worse today than yesterday. The sunrise was hellish looking ... and the weather prediction is for more smoke to come this way for the next few days. Wind direction will not change until Monday at the earliest.

So sad ...

Barbara-
Unfortunately that is not the case-
Here's a link to the current list of places in CA where the "safe & sane " fireworks can be purchased.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/25tevp

What is worrisome about this is that many of our local firefighters
are being sent to the fires, which I think is the right thing to do-yet it leaves us rather exposed
with fireworks being set off in nearby neighborhoods.

The Gov. was suggesting a ban on fireworks sales from the stands, not public displays,BTW. The latter I would gladly forfeit this year
as it will just add smoke to the
already smokey skies.

Love-our sunset didn't look that good last eve ! It was that sun, but against a thick gray background.

Ugh-stay safe all.

R5

We just arrived back home early yesterday morning after being out of the country for two weeks with no connection to the outside world (yes, that is still possible, LOL), so I am still in a bit of a state of shock and disbelief with what is happening.

We are getting little hints and patches of blue sky here on the mid-peninsula in the SF Bay Area, but the skies are generally worse today than they were yesterday. The winds have picked up, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. I have asthma, so I am not going outside much and am trying not to do much. Thank god for my inhalers!

Just got word that friends who live in the foothills of rural Butte County have had to evacuate their home once, but are back. My friend told me that he can sit on his front porch and watch several fires off in the distance. He said the smoke is almost unbearable.

Ackk.

Hi Iamq- Yes, it has been bad for several days here in the SF Bay Area (I'm in San Jose). I don't have asthma, though I've had trouble being outside for two long with my eyes watering and my throat has been a little raspy.

Welcome home Iamq. It's too bad about whats happened with all of the forest fires.
I saw on the Weather Channel earlier that Sacramento has the highest level for unhealthy air.
The fire fighters in Big Sur are trying to keep the fires east of Hwy 1 to protect the town of Big Sur. I sure hope none of them get injured.

Here is updated news from the LA Times regarding how things have improved a little around Big Sur.


http://travel.latimes.com/articles/l...es28-2008jun28


Tam,
It looks like your trip plans may be Ok as long as the winds move the fires away from the coast.

Razzle,

Thanks for that information. I'm amazed, really, I thought the ban was a State thing. We can only have commercial displays, which are free, and apparently the various communities that host them are having trouble raising enough money this year.

I remember only too well how awful the dense smoke is. Even when your windows are tight shut, the smell seems to creep in anyway. Once the air clears, don't forget to change the filters in your cars.

Firefighters are true heroes. In Rancho Bernardo, where a lot of rebuilding is going on, one family had to replace the fence at the back of their house, facing on to a busy road. They replaced it with a lovely wall and in the middle they put a special plaque thanking the firefighters, and the date-October 2007. A lot of our people are up north helping out now.

The air here is better this evening.

I am absolutly shocked regarding the list of cities, per the website Razzle posted, that allow "safe and sane" fireworks including Rio Vista in my county.

My daughter told me that her husband was working in Napa County yesterday and he saw a beautiful sight. There were white sheets tied together and put over a long fence with wording thanking the firefighters for all their efforts. Beautiful!

Would fireworks being displayed off of barges in the ocean be affected if a state wide ban were in effect?
I was thinking about the fireworks in Santa Barbara were Steely Girl and I will be for the 4th. Their fireworks are done off a barge in the ocean.

Hope everyone is doing well with the smoke conditions.

LoveItaly,
Sorry to hear that your air conditions have worsen again.

Hello there andrew8, thank you! While it is not as bad here as in other places around 1:00pm today I and everyone else had to close up our residences and turn on the a/c. We hear about health warnings but there are times people have to be outside breathing the air (workers, errands etc).

Anyway andrew8 I haven't heard that any city/county sponsered fireworks have been cancelled. If I hear I will sure post here. And I can't imagine that fireworks from a barge in the water would be a problem.

When in Santa Barbara if you two have some prawns and a cold glass of white wine on Stearns Wharf think of me my friend!

You're such a treasure LoveItaly, we sure will !

We just returned from Asia on Friday - flew into SFO and saw the horrible smoke. We live in San Jose, but are from Watsonville, so we have been monitoring the fires online during our trip. Until this year, fireworks were legal there and it was a big fundraising thing for lots of organizations.

My dad lives up near Shingletown, which also has some fire activity.

Scary stuff.

Air quality in SJ has been rough the last couple days - we've barely gone out at all.

I might need to post a new thread for this, but I'll try here first. My husband and I are supposed to be flying into SFO on July 12 and out of Burbank on the 19th. This is for our 20th anniversary, so I was trying to make it special. The plan was to spend 3 days around SF, and a day each in Carmel, Big Sur, Cambria and Pasadena. I've been watching the fires closely, and this morning on the "Today" show, they said it could be weeks or months before they are controlled.

Is it time for me to make other plans, or should I wait it out yet? I've been considering Yosemite as an alternative, but I'm not sure of their air quality either. Working with the fact that we are flying into SFO and out of Burbank, what else is in driving distance (maybe 8 hours) or short flying distance? Our preferences include reasonable hiking, strolling, somewhat active vacation (not Las Vegas).

Any help is greatly appreciated. Our prayers are still with those battling the fires in California.

You can check Yosemite air quality daily at this site:

http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/webcam...am/yosecam.cfm

Tam, it's hard to say. Even if the fires are still burning, whether the smoke affects your activites will depend on the wind directions. It might be very difficult to get reservations at this point for Yosemite.

If you aren't able to drive from SF to LA via the coast Hwy, you may still be able to do that via Hwy 101. You could also catch a 1-hour flight from Oakland, San Francisco, or Monterey to Southern California.

You might want to research more time around Cambria, the Santa Ynez Valley, and Southern California (maybe add in San Diego, there are some nice easy walks around Torrey Pines).

Good luck.

Aloha from Carmel. I watched an update on one of our PBS stations, today. On the update, the forest rangers and firefighters gave info to Big Sur locals. They're working very hard but it is difficult because there are no hydrants in the forest and you have to rely on the air and the firefighters bringing hoses up. They work to make fire lines and clear the brush. Friends in Big Sur say that they can barely breathe.

We had to drive our oldest to SFO on Saturday, as she's headed to Europe for a month. We had smoke all the way up and experienced it in SF, all day.

Yesterday, I had to venture out to Bruno's on Junipero, in Carmel, to purchase some of their world class meat. When I got out of my car, I literally felt as if I was standing inside of a fireplace. Ash fell on me, too. We took a drive around the beach and could only keep the windows and sunroof open for a short while because our eyes immediately burned. I have asthma and got a little spooked. There were people walking on the beach, some with babies (idiots). The water was full of surfers, too. I don't know how they can expose themselves to the air this way, it's not safe.

Someone mentioned that the road is closed south of Monterey. That is not true! I would never make it home if that was the case. The road is closed from Ventana south. Who knows how long that will last.

We were planning on attending the Big Sur art festival on the 4th...it's canceled.

Our oldest has a friend who just graduated from college and took a summer job working the front desk at Ventana. A few days ago, he had to call people to inform them that they had to cancel their reservations. At that time, the current guests were furious because Ventana is also remodeling. So they got a double whammy of disappointment. Hey, it's not Ventana's fault that there's a fire and it's good they're remodeling, no? He told my oldest, last week, that he checked in the crazy guy from the Jackass movies, Johnny Knoxville...I wonder if he left or spoofed something for another movie.

Raz - how are you doing, today?

I read in the LA Times that Post Ranch and Ventana are open but everyone seems to be canceling reservations.

The air quality doesn't seem to be getting any better in the fire areas.
Why is the state so short staffed?
Is is because of the number of fires?

What a mess, and it's so early in the fire season

Tess,
Are the conditions worse in Carmel Valley than By the Sea?
I would think the westerly breezes along the coast would push this bad air over the Sierra'a. Those inland are having such a hard time now.

Andrew, yes, it seems that there are very few firefighters because there are so many fires. Most of the firefighters in the state are fighting one or other of these fires, but they can't take everyone away from other areas. There are firefighters from many other states here now. This is how it is with big fires and now we have a lot of big fires all at once. The military sent a bunch of huge tankers today, but they can only fly if visibility is good and with all the smoke visibility can be too poor to use these tankers.

You can help the firefighters by donating soft drinks, water, etc. It's a good idea to check first, but I know people here did that.

I hope everyone and everything survives these fires. I have very fond memories of Nepanthe and the Ventanna Inn.