Impacts to Local Industries
The fires have charred neighborhoods, resorts and destroyed vineyards, struck during harvest season. Those in the industry think the damage to grapes would have been worse any other year. At least four wineries in Napa have suffered total or significant losses. An additional nine wineries reported some damage. At least two wineries in Sonoma are thought to be severely affected. Several hotels and restaurants are thought to have been destroyed. With fires still burning, people still being evacuated and owners unable to access their vineyards, the full scope of the damage will be unknown for days to come.
Air Quality in San Fransico
Over the past couple of days, the Air Quality Index in parts of the Bay Area has reached “unhealthy” levels, which means that even active, healthy adults should limit prolonged outdoor exertion. Spending 24 hours outdoors when the air quality gets this bad is about as bad as smoking five cigarettes.
It’s too early to determine the health effects of the current fires.
“We haven’t yet seen a really noticeable uptick in respiratory issues,” said Brent Andrew, spokesperson for the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. “But this is the type of thing where we may see a trailing effect, after several days.”
