FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Smoke billowed from every vantage point as an ominous plume of dark ash and soot filled the skies over Tracy Thursday afternoon.
Just before 2 pm, CAL FIRE reported a massive fire at the Medline Distribution Center, a medical supply warehouse located just south of Interstate 205 and west of Downtown Tracy.
The path of the smoke could potentially drift toward Central California.
“We are definitely on alert,” said Heather Heinks. She works as the Outreach and Communications Manager at the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.
Officials with the Valley Air District got ahead of the smoke’s impact and sent a team from its Modesto office.
“We have an inspector on site at the incident, we have a forecasting team and meteorologist watching all the feedback that’s coming, and we’re actually deploying a monitor into that area so that we can get a little bit more real-time information on site,” Heather Heinks, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
That information will be crucial in determining the air quality closer to home.
The information recorded by the portable on-site monitor will then feed into the Valley Air District’s main system. It will provide up-to-date information for those checking the “Air Now” app.
On Thursday, just two hours after the first flames were spotted, air district officials recorded moderate levels in Fresno County, with an AQI of 93.
That index is the universal measurement for air quality.
“You can potentially expect to wake up to a smoky smell, depending on where that plume goes,” said Heinks.
Air quality officials said the Valley is entering its Ozone season, which could be worsened by the threat of fire.
“When you add to it a wildfire or a local fire source, a warehouse fire, now you’re introducing particulate matter pollution. It’s a bit of a double whammy. You got the potential from ozone creation and the heat, and the influence of particulate matter from smoke in the air,” said Heinks.
The message from air quality officials: stay ready.
“Check on grandma, check on sensitive receptors, make sure you stay hydrated and certainly go into a space where the air is filtered if you can,” =Heather Heinks
For those with respiratory conditions, Valley Air Quality recommends using in-home purifiers and limiting time spent outdoors.
