Smoke from a fast-growing wildfire near Big Sur is drifting into San Mateo, and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District wants residents to take precautions.
The district issued an air quality advisory covering the South Bay and East Bay through Thursday, Aug. 13, after the Timber Fire in Monterey County sent plumes of smoke northward. The Bay Area Air District said on X that smoke is expected to affect the region on Tuesday and Wednesday, urging residents to check conditions at fire.airnow.gov.
The fire started Sunday, Aug. 9, in Los Padres National Forest, southeast of the unincorporated community of Loma Vista. By Tuesday evening it had burned 2,989 acres with only 5% containment, according to the SF Standard. No injuries have been reported and no structures have burned, though more than 250 are in the evacuation zone.
Cal Fire Battalion Chief Josh Silveira told the Monterey Herald that warm, dry offshore winds from the Salinas Valley are fanning the blaze overnight and pushing smoke toward the Bay Area. "The chess game is, where do we engage the fire…to corral this thing out ahead of it to prevent it from impacting other communities," Silveira said.
The firefighting response as of Tuesday included 480 personnel, eight helicopters, 36 engines, five bulldozers, seven water tanker trucks and 13 crews. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
What San Mateo residents should do
The air district said pollution levels are not expected to exceed the EPA's 24-hour health standards, but conditions could worsen as smoke shifts. Wildfire smoke contains particulate matter that can irritate eyes and airways, causing coughing or sinus irritation.
Older adults, children and people with respiratory illnesses are especially vulnerable and should take extra precautions, the air district said. The district advises all residents to:
- Keep windows and doors closed
- Set air conditioning and car vents to recirculate
- Check local air quality at fire.airnow.gov
This is the second smoke advisory to hit San Mateo in less than a week. As we reported Aug. 6, an earlier advisory tied to wildfires in Oregon and Washington expired Aug. 7. The current advisory stems from a different fire roughly 100 miles to the south.
The advisory expires Thursday, Aug. 13. Residents can monitor real-time conditions at fire.airnow.gov for updates beyond that window.
