From Dodger Stadium to downtown Los Angeles and the Eastside, Sunday was marked by periodic smoke from a Boyle Heights fire burning for a fifth straight day.
Weather officials say erratic winds have been sending smoke to different parts of the region this weekend. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has extended a Particle Pollution Advisory to Monday afternoon, covering a large swath from the San Fernando Valley to Riverside County.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it made significant progress Sunday in battling the fire, but full containment remains unclear.
Boyle Heights
At the city’s smoke relief center set up at Pecan Recreation Center, Ashley Campos, 18, said her family left their home on Hicks Avenue near the fire because of health concerns. Campos said her 44-year-old mother has asthma, her 9-year-old brother has epilepsy, and her 68-year-old grandmother is battling cancer.
Campos said the family lives about two blocks from the warehouse and could smell smoke inside their home. They looked into buying an air purifier but found them either too expensive or unavailable for immediate delivery.
“We didn’t want to even risk it,” Campos said of staying home. Her father has remained at the family’s house “just in case anything happens,” she said.
Campos said the family has struggled to obtain an air purifier and has heard similar concerns from neighbors. “It’s really hard,” she said. “My dad tried looking for one, but he couldn’t find them.”
Downtown L.A.
Wil Blake, who lives a block from Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, said he woke up Sunday morning to the smell of “soot and smoke” in the air, which reminded him of last year’s wildfires.
Blake said he keeps his windows open because his air conditioner has been out of service in recent weeks. He needed to shut them after noticing the smoke. He also wore a mask outdoors and went to a nearby Planet Fitness because he “needed to get some filtered air.”
East L.A.
At Yia Caffe, a coffee shop a few blocks from the warehouse fire, manager Leo Miguel said the smoke has been affecting both customers and employees. Miguel said many customers are opting to grab their drinks and go rather than linger outside as smoke drifts through the neighborhood.
The smoke smells “like chemicals and plastic,” Miguel said, adding that it leaves his mouth feeling dry and makes it “hard to breathe.” Business has slowed since the fire began Wednesday, he said, and conditions don’t appear to be improving.
“I don’t think it’s getting better,” Miguel said. “If anything, it’s getting worse.”
This story originally appeared on LA Times
