Smoke and ash from fires burning in Southern California are drifting into parts of San Diego.
"In San Diego County, the smoke that people are smelling or seeing, is coming from the Orange County Airport fire," said Alex Tardy, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "That fire has pretty much climbed over the Santa Ana Mountains and is now trying to go down the backside of the mountains, which actually is Riverside County."
He said wind patterns are pushing smoke into the Inland Empire and northern San Diego.
"Two things happen. At night, the smoke will settle down to the ground. During the day, the smoke is almost like opening up your windows. The smoke likes to get out and and go where it wants to go, but the prevailing wind is controlled by the weather pattern," Tardy said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Airport Fire between Orange and Riverside Counties have consumed over 22,000 acres.
Vegetation is nearing record dry levels, and the cooler weather we're getting now isn't making much of a difference.
"You're still going to have some of that fire exposed to drier air. But overall all areas, no matter which fire you're talking about, are going to be experiencing cooler temperatures and higher humidity," Tardy said. "So that is good news in terms of allowing the firefighters to get a handle on these fires hopefully by Friday."
Tardy said smoke will remain in the air and get worse the further north you head in Southern California.
This caused the San Diego Air Pollution Control District to issue a warning about air quality for the inland and northern regions.
"Basically advising the public and everyone to monitor the conditions and maybe reduce activities outdoors, as you can," Tardy said.
Multiple agencies are fighting the Airport Fire, including Cal Fire San Diego. Local resources include three dozers, six hand crews, nine fire engines, two battalion chiefs, and one water tender.
"Anytime that we're getting a wildland fire, you're not seeing just solely one fire department taking care of it ... It's a regional approach to try to keep these fires as small as we can, to keep them out of communities and protect as much life and property as we're able to," said CALFIRE captain Mike Cornette.
He said that includes protection of the surrounding communities experiencing second-hand effects.
"Anytime that you get a lot of haze in the air and you start seeing that smoke, it's best to stay inside. Make sure that your air conditioning is on so ... that it's gonna recirculate the air in there and go through the filter. That's gonna keep the air clean," Cornette said.
For updates on the fires burning throughout the state you can visit fire.ca.gov.
