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It's not sea fog, but smoke from distant fires in northern Florida and southern Georgia causing the reduced visibility at the Walsingham Bridge on Tuesday morning.

Moderate air quality conditions are predicted for central Florida, including Pinellas County, on Tuesday, May 8, according to a map from AirNow.

Courtesy of NESDIS (NOAA)

This Hazard Mapping System (HMS) fire and smoke image shows fire positions (red) and annotates visible smoke (gray). Light blue areas are fire weather forecast areas issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) Storm Prediction Center.

Courtesy of NOAA

A GOES satelite image of several large fires burning in Georgia and Florida on Thursday, May 3, at 9:45 A.M.

PINELLAS COUNTY – Officials are urging people with respiratory problems to stay indoors as much as possible as an air pollution advisory remains in effect through Thursday due to elevated levels of the pollutant particulate matter and dense smoke.

Residents in Pinellas County and most of north and central Florida woke up to hazy skies and a strong smell of smoke on Tuesday morning.

According to Peter Hessling, director of the county’s Division of Air Quality and Environmental Management, the cause of the problem is wind conditions blowing smoke into the area from brush fires in Hillsborough and Volusia counties, as well as fires in other parts of the state and the large fire in Georgia, which has been burning for several weeks.

Hessling said Pinellas County was the only known county who had not experienced a brush fire in the past few days.

“People with breathing problems are urged to stay indoors if possible,” according to the advisory. “Air quality today may be considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.”

Hessling said unfavorable air quality conditions were expected to continue through at least Thursday, or until the current weather system dominating the area changes.

He said conditions most likely would be worst in the morning with afternoon breezes helping to decrease the amount of smoke in the air slightly.

People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should limit any exertion and outdoor activities. In addition, the general public should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion during this episode.

Hessling said people had been calling into the Air Quality Division, the county’s Emergency Management office and several had called 911 thinking there was a fire in their neighborhood.

“This is all very unusual,” he said. “We haven’t experienced anything like it since the fires in 1998.”

Exposure to air pollution, such as smoke in the air, can lead to a variety of health problems. For example, numerous studies link particle levels to increased hospital admissions and emergency room visits and even to death from heart or lung diseases. Short-term exposures have been linked to health problems.

Short-term exposures (hours or days) can aggravate lung disease, causing asthma attacks and acute bronchitis, and may also increase susceptibility to respiratory infections. In people with heart disease, short-term exposures have been linked to heart attacks and arrhythmias. Healthy children and adults have not been reported to suffer serious effects from short-term exposures, although they may experience temporary minor irritation when particle levels are elevated.

For more information, call the Pinellas County Air Quality Division at 727-464-4422. For current recorded Air Quality information, call 727-464-3392; visit www.airnow.gov or www.dep.state.fl.us/Air/flaqs/county/pinellas.htm.

Article published on Tuesday, May 8, 2007

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