Are you working outdoors in the North County smoke? Stop now, Air District says
The San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District on Friday urged North County employers to postpone non-emergency outdoor work through the weekend due to persistently dangerous air quality conditions caused by blowing wildfire smoke.
San Miguel, Paso Robles, Atascadero, Lake Nacimiento and other areas throughout the North County region are still experiencing some of the worst air quality conditions in the world as smoke from wildfires burning in Monterey County continues to blow down the Central Coast.
Air quality was expected to improve during the weekend, but conditions will likely remain unhealthy in Paso Robles and Atascadero, the APCD’s forecast says.
After AQI levels dropped on Friday night, to the point that no SLO County cities were on a list of the top 10 locations with the worst air quality in the nation, all four had returned by Saturday morning after the three fires in Monterey County grew overnight, according to air quality monitoring company IQAir.
At 11 a.m. Saturday, IQAir reported San Miguel was No. 3 with an air quality index of 417, followed by Paso Robles at No. 4 (401), Atascadero at No. 5 (358) and Lake Nacimiento at No. 7 (333).
Outdoor work should halt
Due to the unhealthy air, restaurants should close or switch to take-out only, and outdoor agricultural and construction work should stop, according to an APCD news release.
“Currently, the air quality in Paso Robles, Atascadero, and other North County locations is in the hazardous range,” the APCD wrote. “It is forecast to remain hazardous today and to be unhealthy tomorrow. The SLO County APCD does not have the authority to issue mandatory orders, but we strongly recommend that outdoor activities in these areas stop until air quality improves.”
Nearly the entire county currently has poor air, but conditions are the worst in the North County. The APCD measures air pollutants on an air quality index (AQI) scale of zero to more than 500.
Outdoor work should stop in areas with an air quality index (AQI) reading of over 150, the APCD said.
CalOSHA requires employers to protect workers from the health impacts caused by poor air quality when the AQI at worksites is 151 or greater.
Employers are to create a system for communicating wildfire smoke hazards, reduce employee smoke exposure, change employees’ work schedules or locations and provide proper respiratory protective equipment, among other measures, according to the CalOSHA website.
For more information on air quality conditions in San Luis Obispo County, visit slocleanair.org.
This story was updated with the latest air quality numbers as of 11 a.m. Saturday.
This story was originally published August 21, 2020 at 5:06 PM.
