News/On 2007-05-24/Smoke from wildfires drifts over Athens.....is it harmful?
- Date
- 2007-05-24
By Kelly Kazek kelly@athensnews-courier.com
Reports of fires kept Athens firefighters busy Wednesday, but most calls were from people who smelled smoke rather than saw flames, said Athens Fire Chief Cliff Christopher.
“We received several calls from the city and the county from people seeing smoke or haze outside,” he said. “We reassured them unless they see fire or real heavy, black smoke, it was probably coming from the fires in Georgia and Florida.”
Firefighters did respond to a few calls, however, just to be sure no fires were burning locally, Christopher said.
Winds sent smoke from the wildfires in southeastern Georgia and northeastern Florida to northern Alabama, where local residents smelled smoke briefly last week and a stronger odor Wednesday. The smoke will not likely linger because the winds were to shift before today, said Ron Gore, head of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management’s air quality division.
“It depends on where the fronts go,” he said. “A high pressure area that’s keeping us dry moved to the east and that made the winds blow from the southeast. That’s why we’re seeing the smoke.”
In this area, smoke has not reached levels to cause health concerns, he said. A reading from a device in Huntsville that monitors tiny particles of smoke in the air showed the air quality to be within normal ranges Wednesday, Gore said.
Further south — from Birmingham and below — smoke levels were higher and could cause breathing difficulty for people with asthma or respiratory ailments. Health officials advised elderly people, young children and people with lung conditions to stay indoors until the smoke lifts, according to an Associated Press report.
The ADEM Web site http://www.adem.state.al.us/ftproot/air/HSVForecast.jpg listed air quality in the Huntsville-Decatur area Wednesday at 64, or moderate. At moderate levels (any rating from 51 to 100 on the scale), officials state that “unusually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.” The level from 0 to 50 is good air quality, from 101 to 150 is “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” from 151 to 200 is unhealthy for the typical population, from 201 to 300 is very unhealthy and 301 and up is hazardous.
Pilots further south were having trouble flying small craft because of poor visibility but local pilots had no trouble, said Jake Smith of Decatur-Athens Aero Services at Pryor Field.
“It’s been hazy and smoky today but it hasn’t kept anybody from flying,” he said.
Given distance very unlikely
Six wildfires are raging in southeast Georgia — some for weeks — and some fires reportedly have merged, covering 366,061 acres, including parts of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. In northeast Florida, seven wildfires are covering 181,648 acres.
For continuing updates on wildfires nationwide, go to www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm.
Michelle Weston said she came from Anchorage, Alaska to help at the National Interagency Fire Center because firefighters in Georgia and Florida were busy fighting the fires.
Weston said rain would be the best way to stop the fires, but because none is forecast, firefighters are performing “burnouts,” which cause more smoke initially but then contain the fires.
*Content from Athens News Courier
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