FILLING UP TO FIGHT BLAZE DAY FIRE SMOKE ADDS TO POLLUTION, REDUCES VISIBILTIY IN REGION.Byline: Daily News PALMDALE -- Smoke from a giant forest fire burning more than 30 miles away has reduced visibility and increased air pollution in the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley , but not to unhealthy levels, an air-quality official said Wednesday. Particulate levels have crept up, particularly in the evenings, from the 10-day-old Day Fire that by Wednesday afternoon had blackened black·en v. black·ened, black·en·ing, black·ens v.tr. 1. To make black. 2. To sully or defame: a scandal that blackened the mayor's name. 3. more than 29,000 acres west of Interstate 5. ``We're monitoring it,'' Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District operations manager Bret Banks said Wednesday. Visibility at Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. was 35 miles Wednesday afternoon -- compared with 85 miles Monday. Visibility at Air Force Plant 42 at its lowest Wednesday afternoon was nine miles. Overall air quality was predicted to be moderate today in the Antelope Valley, with ozone -- a product of car exhausts and factories rather than forest fires -- the deciding factor, the Antelope Valley AQMD AQMD Air Quality Management District AQMD Action Quake Map Depot said. Started in Ventura County on Labor Day -- which provided its name -- the fire remains just 25 percent contained, with no predictions of when it could be fully controlled. The fire was blamed on somebody burning debris in Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a forest located in southern and central California, which includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland. Elevations range from sea level to 8,831 feet. north of Lake Piru. It's unusual for wildfires in Southern California to last longer than a week, but because of the steep and rugged terrain, firefighters have struggled to contain the fire. Authorities expect the fire to burn southeast to at least Canton Canyon northwest of Castaic. And so firefighters plan to make a stand a little farther south from the canyon, at a ``contingency line'' two miles north of homes in Romero and Hasley canyons. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) A tanker-based crew member fills retardant re·tar·dant adj. Acting or tending to retard. Often used in combination: flame-retardant pajamas for children; a fire-retardant security chest. in a P2V P2V Physical to Virtual Nepture firefighting tanker Wednesday at Fox Field in Lancaster to make a drop on the Day Fire in Los Padres National Forest. (2 -- color) A P2V Neptune firefighting tanker returns from a retardant drop Wednesday on the Day Fire, which has burned more than 29,000 acres in an area southwest of Pyramid Lake. It remains just 25 percent contained, with no predictions of when it could be fully controlled. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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