Smoke from California fires causes unhealthy air

Parts of Northern Nevada are under air quality warnings after smoke from California has covered the region.

Air quality readings have climbed into the unhealthy range for sensitive groups. In Churchill County, officials said the quality could range from 50 to more than 100,

For the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (101 to 150), individuals may experience health effects. The general public is not likely to be affected.

Officials said active children and adults, and people with asthma or lung disease should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors.

Smoke appears to be coming from the Soberanes fire in the scenic Big Sur region of the Central Coast. By Tuesday the fire destroyed 20 homes and threatened 1,650 others and burned more than 20,000 acres.

More than 1,300 personnel are battling the original 23-square-mile fire, which is burning mostly out of control in hard-to-reach, rugged mountainous terrain.

The fire was threatening about 1,650 mountain homes and burning mostly out of control.

In Southern California, a large majority of the roughly 20,000 evacuees from a huge wildfire north of Los Angeles will be allowed to return home.

Some evacuees have been away from their homes since the beginning of the weekend. About 10,000 homes had been under evacuation orders. It wasn’t clear exactly how many would remain on Monday night.

The fire has burned more than 51 square miles (132.09 sq. kilometers) of ridges and canyons between Los Angeles and suburban Santa Clarita since Friday.

That fire was pushing smoke toward Las Vegas.

For up to date air quality results, go to https://airnow.gov.