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Tampa covered by smokey haze
This morning, I open my window as I do every morning to let the cool morning air in, but instead of cool morning air, I smell burning brush. I look outside, and the sky is yellow!! I didn't think much of it until I started getting that sneezy sensation in my nose. Had to close the windows. Guess I should stay indoors all day.
| quote: | Smoke And Haze Hover Over Bay Area
Posted May 8, 2007 by From TBO.com
Updated May 8, 2007 at 10:45 AM
A north wind is blowing smoke from fires
into the Bay area. TBO Traffic image
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By Beth Gaddis, TBO.com
and Josh Poltilove, The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA – Health officials are warning people to stay indoors today.
“We are experiencing a lot of smoke and smoky haze throughout the county, due to the wildfires burning in Florida and Georgia,” said Cindy Morris, an administrator of Environmental Health Services in the Hillsborough County Health Dept. “People with breathing problems are encouraged to stay indoors if possible to reduce their exposure to the smoke.”
Even healthy people are being told to curtail their outdoor physical activity through tomorrow. Several Bayshore Boulevard joggers have called the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission and asked if they should be outside jogging.
“We’re asking people to try and use common sense and if you don’t have to be outside, don’t be outside,” said Tom Tamaninni, general manager for air monitoring for the EPC. “If you’re a jogger down Bayshore, possibly use a treadmill or jog indoors.”
The winds are directing in smoke from the northeast, where some fires are located, Tamininni said. He said Hillsborough County has seen an increase in particulate matter in the air as a result of the fires.
“I’m not sure there’s a lot we can do,” he said. “I don’t think we can control the winds and the direction of the winds.”
School districts in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco have all curtailed outdoor activities, including outdoor physical education classes, during school hours today. They will have meetings later today to decide whether to cancel any after-school sports programs.
Polk County school administrators say the smoke has not affected their activities.
So how long will the smoky conditions last? Hillsborough Emergency Management Director Larry Gispert said that if rain or a strong sea breeze came into the area, the smoke would go away. He doesn’t see that happening in the near future.
Still, he said, most people have nothing to worry about.
“Some people who have respiratory problems might have trouble catching their breath,” Gispert said. “It’s not going to kill anybody.”
The smoky conditions are not affecting local travel. Tampa International Airport reported a handful of delays this morning, but none was due to the smoke, according to spokeswoman Kelly Figley.
About 260 separate fires were burning more than 20,545 acres in the state, said Jim Harrell, a spokesman for the state Division of Forestry told the Associated Press.
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