As the thick smell of smoke clung to the air and ash rained down from the sky, nonprofit Corazón Healdsburg handed out N95 masks and emergency preparedness brochures to residents Thursday afternoon at the Healdsburg Community Center.
With an inundation of smoke from multiple wildfires burning in both Sonoma and Napa County, the air quality is reaching unhealthy levels of 102 AQI, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD).
Smoke can irritate the eyes and airways, causing coughing, a dry scratchy throat and irritated sinuses. Healdsburg residents lined up in their cars along Healdsburg Avenue, waiting to pull into the community center parking lot to pick up a much-needed mask.
According to the BAAQMD, elevated particulate matter can sometimes trigger wheezing in those who suffer from, “Asthma, emphysema or COPD. Elderly persons, children and individuals with respiratory illnesses are particularly susceptible to elevated air pollution levels and should take extra precautions to avoid exposure.”
Sonoma County and Bay Area residents should keep doors and windows closed if possible and limit outdoor activity when the smell of smoke is present.
As a result of the smoky conditions which are forecasted to persist for the rest of the week, the BAAQMD extended their “Spare the Air” alert through Sunday, Aug. 23. A Spare the Air alert bans burning wood, manufactured fire logs or any solid fuel both indoors and outdoors
In addition to handing out masks, Corazón CEO Ariel Kelley, said they also provided city emergency preparedness brochures in Spanish to Healdsburg residents, a large majority of which are Spanish speaking.
“In addition to masks … the city of Healdsburg created a brochure and we are going to be distributing those in Spanish because it has lots of detailed information on how and where to safely evacuate. Since we imagine there could be an evacuation, we are wanting all of our residents to be prepared for that and to have detailed information and even if we aren’t evacuating, it’s always good information to have,” Kelley said.
While the city of Healdsburg is still under an evacuation warning, Kelley said there are some farm and vineyard workers still working in areas that are under a mandatory evacuation.
“I know of some farm workers that are still in the (mandatory) evacuation zone who are still working and know that they can leave but have said they are planning to stay, but are ready to leave at a moment’s notice,” Kelley reported. “We have expressed our concern about them staying in the mandatory evacuation zone, but for a variety of reasons they feel like it is important for them to stay right now.”
Kelley said they have been communicating with North Bay Jobs with Justice who received some reports that there were vineyard workers who were being asked to work under duress or against their will.
“We are working to figure out what is the best way to make sure that folks know they can safely refuse to work right now and then also what protections people can use to make sure that they are being safe if they do want to work in these conditions,” Kelley said.
Kelley said that the only current evacuation point is at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
“At this point that is the only temporary evacuation point,” she said.
Kelley said she was going to speak with the Red Cross to see what their plan is to potentially open up additional evacuation points or shelters should any cities start to be evacuated.
“Not that many people have been evacuated, certainly much less than in Kincade and so the need for shelters isn’t as great yet. Right now when people go to the Santa Rosa Fairgrounds it’s not completely clear … what we are hearing from the ground is that it’s not executed in the way that it’s being put out,” she said.
She noted that she doesn’t want people to get confused and expect resources that aren’t there since the fairgrounds is an evacuation point where staff will refer folks to other resources.
“At the Santa Rosa site what they are saying is they are referring people to hotels or RV parking or other places, but it’s very different from Kincade when you would pull up and there were beds. This is a very different current state of affairs,” Kelley said.
When asked of Kelley what the biggest concern is right now for the Latinx community, she said one element is making sure all information and updates on the fires are available in Spanish.
“That’s (communication/notifications for the Latinx community) definitely one of our concerns, especially as information becomes urgent and that our Spanish speaking population is aware of what’s going on,” she said.
North Bay Jobs with Justice is currently seeking bilingual volunteers over the next one to three weeks to support non-English speakers seeking refuge, support and resources at the evacuation point at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.
According to a post from the organization, there is a preference for Spanish speakers, however, speakers of any indigenous language are also welcome. To volunteer, visit:
https://www.facebook.com/nbjwj.
“The other piece is that this is just a very unusual situation to be in a fire evacuation during a pandemic and so there’s an additional severe set of circumstances that’s placed on that urgency and so it’s making sure that people are being mindful, when they are evacuating, of being COVID safe. Those are the concerns we have. COVID is still very real in this community and we have a high incident of cases especially in the Latinx community,” Kelley said.
In regard to masks and COVID-19, Kelley reminded folks that the N95 mask that has a pop out plastic filter is not COVID safe. If folks are to wear that specific type of N95, it is a good idea to wear a cloth mask over it. The fully enclosed N95 is the type that is COVID safe.
