In Los Angeles, people snap up air filters and wear masks against smoke pollution

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With levels of sooty air pollution far too high across swaths of the Los Angeles area, Dana Benton is sleeping with a mask on, even with her air purifier running.

“My car was just covered in ash, and it’s just disgusting to think that we could be inhaling that,” the Chinatown resident said through an N95 mask outside a Sprouts grocery store in the Mid-City neighborhood. That's not where she lives. Like thousands of residents, she's left home to get away from the smoke. Now she and her cat are staying with her parents.

It’s not like a campfire, she said, “even though it smells like one.” The 30-year-old worries about plastic, asbestos and other toxins released from homes and businesses as wildfires rage through several Los Angeles neighborhoods; her eyes and throat have been burning even though she keeps her windows closed, air filter running on high and mostly has been staying indoors.

“All those microparticles are going into our lungs," she said. "It’s really very concerning ... I can’t even think about the long-term repercussions, health wise, for everybody from all of this.”

She's not wrong. Small particles are some of the most health-damaging air pollution, linked to a range of chronic and deadly health issues, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Across Southern California, people are taking precautions as the air quality index — a measure that includes fine particles — reached hazardous levels for some neighborhoods, including Pasadena.

Air purifiers in Home Depots around Central Los Angeles are sold out.

Dr. Puneet Gupta, assistant medical director for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said emergency room doctors tell him people with breathing problems are coming in by ambulance, driving themselves and with family.

Conditions are changing constantly with shifts in wind and wind speed. It’s important to take precautions like masking and staying indoors even after the fires are out, because air quality can be poor “for quite some time,” Gupta said.

Ryan Kittell, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Los Angeles, said dry, 50 - 65 mph winds are possible through next week across mountain and foothill areas, with the potential for another significant red flag period Monday night through Wednesday night.

“The risks for the Palisades Fire, the Hurst Fire, are definitely there for another pretty strong round of winds,” he said.

Dr. Nader Kamangar, a pulmonary critical care specialist at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, said he hasn’t seen a spike in respiratory ER visits or admissions related to the smoke yet, but “the situation ... may well change” in the coming days and weeks.

He said doctors worry most about very fine particles, which can carry toxic substances deep into the lungs and bloodstream, potentially causing heart and lung problems. When homes and cars made with toxics-containing materials burn, it adds to the danger. He said it’s important to wear N-95 respirators outdoors and for people with asthma or other respiratory problems to keep medicine and emergency inhalers with them.

“We are prepared for the worst, hoping for the best,” Kamangar said, noting people with preexisting lung disease, children and the elderly are most vulnerable.

Ash was falling from an orange sky as Celia Fagel walked her dog, Lou, for a potty break around their central Los Angeles neighborhood. She wore a black face mask, hoping to protect herself, she said.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” said Fagel, 34, Thursday morning.

She worries about Lou, who doesn’t get to mask up “and has no idea what’s going on.”

Guillermina Gonzalez, 61, wore two masks Thursday to walk her dog and is encouraging her family to stay inside.

“All of this is really bad ... really dangerous,” she said, speaking in Spanish.

She said she's heartbroken by the scope of devastation and for the people who have lost homes.

“There are a lot of people who are going to need our help," she said, choking back tears. “I tell everyone that if we can help we should, because we are all human beings.”

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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

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