City of Long Beach Cautions Residents of Poor Air Quality

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PRESS RELEASE

Long Beach, CA - City Health Officer Dr. Anissa Davis warns Long Beach residents about potential unhealthy air quality due to multiple fires in Los Angeles County, including the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, and Hurst Fire, which are producing heavy smoke. Air quality has already reached potentially unhealthy levels in parts of Long Beach. All people are urged to exercise caution and avoid unnecessary outdoor activities.

Smoke and ash rising into the atmosphere may be visible over portions of Long Beach and surrounding areas, potentially creating unhealthy conditions. All people are urged to exercise caution and avoid unnecessary outdoor activities in any area directly impacted by smoke and ash. This includes areas where residents can see or smell smoke. In any area impacted by smoke, residents should take the following precautions:

• Avoid any vigorous outdoor or indoor exertion.
• Remain indoors, especially for people with respiratory or heart disease, those who are pregnant, older adults, and children.
• Keep windows and doors closed or seek alternate shelter.
• Run your air conditioner if you have one.
• Change the standard air-conditioner filter to a medium or high-efficiency filter. If you have a wall-unit or window-unit air conditioner, set it to "recirculate."
• Avoid the use of a swamp cooler or whole-house fan to prevent bringing additional smoke inside, if possible.
• Avoid indoor or outdoor wood-burning appliances, including fireplaces, to avoid worsening the health effects of wildfire smoke.

For more detailed information about air quality related to the wildfires, visit the South Coast Air Quality Management District's website at aqmd.gov or view a map of local real-time air quality data. If you would like to sign up for air quality forecasts, subscribe by visiting air quality alerts.

For up-to-date information on area fires, visit Los Angeles County's Emergency Response Page.

Residents are also encouraged to sign up for Alert Long Beach to receive free emergency notifications from the City of Long Beach.

Media inquiries can be directed to the Jennifer Rice Epstein, Public Affairs Officer, Department of Health and Human Services, at 562.441.3590 or [email protected].

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