UPDATE: Thermal Fire Smoke Still Affecting Coachella Valley

The Coachella Valley Unified School District cancelled classes though Wednesday, October 23, 2019 due to the smoke from the Thermal Fire. The South Coast Air Quality Management District extended the smoke advisory through Wednesday, but air quality is improving and has moved from unhealthy to moderate but has been fluctuating and changes hour by hour. There are free masks that filter out harmful particulates available at the Galilee Center in Mecca, each family gets a box of 20. 66-101 Hammond Rd. Mecca, CA 92254 Phone: (760) 396-9100 Fax: (760) 396-5400 Email: info@galileecenter.org The Office of Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez issued the following information: THERMAL – The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs Wildland Fire Management, working cooperatively with CAL FIRE/Riverside County Fire Department, Riverside County Transportation & Land Management Agency and South Coast Air Quality Management District, has made significant progress in the extinguishment of the Martinez Fire. All agencies are working together in the best interest of the public to ensure that the fire is mitigated completely. There are no conditions that warrant evacuations. "I want to commend our Riverside County Fire Department and the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the progress they’ve made on the mulch fire," said Supervisor V. Manuel Perez. "The immediate response and coordination brought in resources to assist the community and make sure the fire didn’t expand beyond its initial boundary within the recycling facility site. I also thank the Bureau of Indian Affairs for continuing efforts to extinguish the fire, the tribal nations that sent fire support, and our county agencies that have been helpful. Even though this fire is on tribal land, Riverside County will assist and use its resources to protect the safety of our constituents, especially our most vulnerable." The fire started Oct. 14 on tribal land near the intersection of Avenue 66 and Martinez Road in the community of Thermal. Due to the significant scale of the mulch piles burning, it has been a labor-intensive and slow process to mitigate the fire, requiring numerous heavy equipment resources such as bulldozers, excavators, skip loaders, water tenders, dump trucks and fire engines. "We will continue to assist from a coordination and support role as needed and work cooperatively with all County, State, Federal and Local agencies to help mitigate and reduce potential life hazards from the Martinez Fire" said East Desert Division Chief Robert Fish. As the extinguishment efforts continue, the southeastern Coachella Valley and other valley areas continue to experience drift smoke from the Martinez Fire. The smoke layer is caused by a temperature inversion in which warm air "caps" cooler air, causing smoke to become trapped in valley bottoms at night and in the early morning. The trapped smoke generally begins to lift after the sun rises and heats the Earth’s surface. Inversions are also stronger and more common during the winter months. The South Coast Air Quality Management District deployed an air monitor to the school complex, home to three schools located a quarter-mile away from the fire. The public can access near real-time air quality data at: https://xappprod.aqmd.gov/SMSDataSite/Home/AdminIndex?MonitoringSiteId=13 Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser has offered the following precautions for residents: Residents should avoid any vigorous outdoor or indoor exertion. Those with respiratory or heart disease, older adults and children should remain indoors. Windows and doors should be closed. Run your air conditioner if you have one and keep the fresh air intake closed and the filter clean to prevent bringing additional smoke inside. Avoid using a swamp cooler or whole-house fan to prevent bringing additional smoke inside. To avoid worsening the health effects of smoke, don’t use indoor or outdoor wood‑burning appliances, including fireplaces. Parents should contact the Coachella Valley Unified School District for updates on school closures at 760-399-5137. For updates on the status of the Martinez Fire, please contact Captain Fernando Herrera at 951-355-4059 or Chief Ray Ruiz at the Bureau of Indian Affairs at 951‑675‑6763. This recycling facility site has had reoccurring issues with dumping and burning for many years. Prior to this incident, Supervisor Perez brought county departments together to discuss these issues with representatives including Representative Raul Ruiz, the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians and State Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia’s office. Given that the County of Riverside has no jurisdiction over tribal land, Supervisor Perez is advocating for federal action to get the site cleaned up or for an enabling role for the county to enforce against violations. "When school is being canceled, and youth are ending up in the hospital due to higher levels of pollution in the air, the appropriate jurisdictions need to act," Perez said. Congressman Ruiz Tours Thermal Fire and Gets Resources [bc_video video_id="6096532753001″ account_id="5728959025001″ player_id="Hkbio1usDM" embed="in-page" padding_top="56%" autoplay="" min_width="0px" max_width="640px" width="100%" height="100%"] On Sunday U.S. Congressman Raul Ruiz, (D) 36th Dist., toured the Sun Valley Recycling Center where a mulch fire has been burning since Monday. The smoke has affected many areas of the Coachella valley even forcing school evacuations. "The primary concerns as fathers and mothers of the men that are out here are the children to make sure that the smoke is non cumbersome to the school that they can get back to school and they don’t have another incident where they had the smoke before," said Ruiz. The South Coast Air Quality Management District put out a smoke advisory and extended it to Monday October 21, 2019, for Thermal, La Quinta, Mecca and Salton Sea warning people with heart disease, respiratory illness, pregnant women children and the elderly to limit outdoor activities. Captain Fernando Herrera says JFK Memorial Hospital donated masks that filter the harmful particulates, "The public that lives around this area and is affected by the smoke can go down to the Galilee Center and also the Mecca Resource Center and ask for some masks and help protect themselves as they’re doing their business around town or here in the community." Many are asking: Why is this fire is taking such a long time to put out? The answer is complicated. First, Herrera says water cannot penetrate the mountain of green waste, "It’s a 32 acre fire squared, one huge mountain of mulch that’s probably 20 to 25 feet high very hard to put out because it entails a lot of equipment that needs to be brought in, specialized equipment … to tear section by section of that huge mountain of mulch, move it out to a different location and then spread it down and then water it down with water trucks … and just continue to wet it down until it’s completely out … it takes a long time to do that process, several days." And also because it’s allotted privately owned land that sits on the Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indian Reservation, Ruiz says getting that specialized equipment approved takes time but added he was able to get resources out sooner. "They made great progress and it’s not going to take the two weeks that initial reports were saying because they are very concerned like I am about the students and the children and we’re now looking if not tomorrow in a matter of a couple of days." He credited those working long shifts to get it put out, including Cal Fire Riverside County Fire Department, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs Fire Department. Ruiz says this process has to be changed through communication and legislation so the community doesn’t have to go through this every time there’s a fire on tribal land, "Rest assured that we’re thinking two or three steps to make sure that incidents like these don’t happen again."