In Los Angeles, people snap up air filters and wear masks against smoke pollution

LOS ANGELES — With levels of sooty air pollution far too high across swaths of the Los Angeles area, Dana Benton is sleeping with a mask on, even with her air purifier running.

“My car was just covered in ash, and it’s just disgusting to think that we could be inhaling that,” the Chinatown resident said, through an N95 mask outside a Sprouts grocery store in the Mid-City neighborhood. That's not where she lives. Like thousands of residents, she's left home to get away from the smoke. Now she and her cat are staying with her parents.

It’s not like a campfire, she said, “even though it smells like one.” The 30-year-old worries about plastic, asbestos and other toxins released from homes and businesses as wildfires rage through several Los Angeles neighborhoods; her eyes and throat have been burning even though she keeps her windows closed, air filter running on high and mostly has been staying indoors.

“All those microparticles are going into our lungs," she said. "It’s really very concerning ... I can’t even think about the long-term repercussions, health wise, for everybody from all of this.”

She's not wrong. Small particles can provoke a range of health problems, including breathing and heart issues. Across Southern California, people are taking precautions as the air quality index — a measure that includes fine particles — reached hazardous levels for some neighborhoods, including Pasadena.

Air purifiers in Home Depots around Central Los Angeles are sold out.

Dr. Puneet Gupta, assistant medical director for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said emergency room doctors tell him people with breathing problems are coming in by ambulance, driving themselves and with family.

Conditions are changing constantly with shifts in wind and wind speed. But it’s important to take precautions like masking and mostly staying indoors even after the fires are out, because air quality can be poor “for quite some time,” Gupta said.

Ash was falling from an orange sky as Celia Fagel walked her dog, Lou, for a potty break around their central Los Angeles neighborhood. She wore a black face mask, hoping to protect herself, she said.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Fagel, 34, Thursday morning.

She also worries about the toxins she's inhaling and about Lou, who doesn’t get to mask up “and has no idea what’s going on.”

Air quality was generally worst Wednesday and Thursday from Pasadena to the port of Los Angeles because the winds fanning the flames were blowing toward the south and southwest, said Scott Epstein, air quality assessment manager for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The typical fire often begins in the mountain foothills and smoke can flow above valleys and populated areas, rather than hovering near the surface, Epstein said.

“But since these fires are down in the valleys, in the urban areas, the smoke stays low to the ground and can have some pretty serious impacts,” he said.

Warm, dry winds remain in the forecast.

Guillermina Gonzalez, 61, wore two masks Thursday to walk her dog and is encouraging her family to stay inside.

“All of this is really bad ... really dangerous,” she said, speaking in Spanish.

She said she's heartbroken by the scope of devastation and for the people who have lost homes.

“There are a lot of people who are going to need our help," she said, choking back tears. “I tell everyone that if we can help we should, because we are all human beings.”

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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.