Haze Looms Over Orange County As Fires Burn

Orange County, CA — Temperatures have cooled from California's searing heat wave last week, but ozone pollution in Orange County and Los Angeles has reached its highest levels in decades over the past week. Fires burning in San Diego, Los Angeles and Bernardino counties have severely hampered air quality over the weekend.

Some of Orange County showed an air quality index of around 131, meaning the air was unsafe for sensitive groups. Other areas showed moderate air quality conditions.

While firefighters working to suppress the Valley Fire in eastern San Diego County had achieved nearly 80 percent containment, two other fires in Southern California continued to choke the air all the way down the state.

The El Dorado Fire was burning in the Yucaipa area in San Bernardino County and has blackened more than 14,000 acres. It was 41 percent contained as of Sunday.

The Bobcat Fire, which has scorched nearly 32,000 acres north of Azusa and Monrovia in the Angeles National Forest, was 6 percent contained Sunday.

Southern California has long suffered the nation's worst levels of ozone due to high levels of smog and hot temperatures.

How is the air quality MODERATE when we can see and smell ash and smoke? #AirQuality #AirPollution #SmokeAdvisory #orangecounty #SoCal@SouthCoastAQMD https://t.co/FVnfHAuhDk
— Carrie Kelly (@CarrieHKelly) September 13, 2020