After burning for more than a week, smoke from the Gifford Fire has become somewhat commonplace in San Luis Obispo County.
But on Tuesday, a towering column of dark smoke dominated the sky, visible from around the county and prompting concerns from some that the fire — which reached upwards of 122,000 acres as it burned in the Garcia Wilderness on Tuesday morning — may be growing more quickly once again.
Los Padres National Forest service representatives, however, said the changing smoke column wasn’t cause for alarm.
“It’s part of everyday fluctuation of the smoke column and fire intensity,” public information officer Flemming Bertelsen said Tuesday afternoon. “You’ll often see it ramping up and subsiding.”
According to Bertelsen, it is normal for the smoke column to change day-to-day based off a number of variables like topography and wind patterns, as well as whatever is happening on the fire line.
“It’s always changing,” he said.
‘Strategic firing operation’ helps cut off fire’s forward progress
The fire had burned 125,648 acres as of the latest update on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Los Padres National Forest. Containment remained at 33%.
Later Tuesday, Gifford Fire officials said “favorable weather conditions, manageable fire behavior and the full readiness of fire crews provided the ideal circumstances to begin a strategic firing operation today.”
During that operation, ground crews ignited vegetation along established and reinforced containment lines around the border of the Garcia Wilderness. Helicopters also assisted in the more steep and inaccessible areas along the Garcia Ridge, a Gifford Fire representative wrote in an email to The Tribune.
“This action was taken to stop the fire’s forward progress,” the representative said, noting that that was likely part of the reason for increased smoke around San Luis Obispo County on Tuesday.
Officials anticipate having the firing operation done by Wednesday.
How is air quality in SLO County during Gifford Fire?
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the county’s Air Pollution Control District said it was actively monitoring potential impacts of smoke from the fire.
The agency said in a news release it expected SLO County skies to “be hazy” with fine particulate concentrations and ozone “higher than normal as long as the fire remains active.”
It also warned for the potential for high levels of ash.
Due to “continued northwesterly flow aloft,” air quality was actually expected to be good across most of the county, the release said. Impacts were instead expected to be limited mostly to the southeastern portion of SLO County in the area of the Carrizo Plain and Cuyama.
Those areas should expect an increase in smoke in the afternoon before clearing out overnight, the agency said.
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