While we in Sonoma Valley are enjoying the late-summer weather, a threat is drifting our way, courtesy of the four-day-old wildfire far to the south of us.
An illegal debris burn is the culprit, according to investigators of the so-called Lick Fire that began Monday afternoon in Henry Coe State Park east of Morgan Hill. Having burned some 11,000 acres in the back country, it is only 20 percent contained.
As of yesterday, smoke from the fire was particularly thick in the South and East bays, but the smell was discernible in downtown San Francisco.
If you smell smoke, authorities suggest you stay indoors due to concerns over possible health risks. As temperatures rise later this week, as they are predicted to do, things will definitely get worse in the Central Valley, which is also being affected by a second blaze, the Moonlight Fire that started Monday in a remote portion of the Plumas National Forest. Wind shifts and rising temperatures may bring the smoke from the two fires north into Sonoma county over the next few days.
