Tom Christofk, Placer County Air Pollution Control Officer, and Dr. Michael Mulligan, MD, Placer County’s Assistant Health Officer, are issuing a health advisory regarding the smoke in the foothills which is resulting from the Ralston Fire on Mosquito Ridge Road.

Officials expect that Placer County may continue to be affected on an intermittent basis.  Scientific studies have linked the fine particles associated with smoke with a variety of significant health problems. 

If you smell smoke, or see smoke around you, consider restricting your outside activities.  Until the present conditions improve, individuals should consider taking the following actions:

• Healthy people should delay strenuous exercise, particularly when they can smell smoke.
• Children and elderly people should consider avoiding outdoor activities, particularly prolonged outdoor exertion.
• People with health-related illnesses, particularly respiratory problems, should remain indoors.
• Using paper mask filters, which are not capable of filtering extra-fine smoke particles, and which restrict airflow, is not recommended.
• Stay inside with doors and windows shut.  Use the recycle or re-circulate mode on the air conditioner in your home or car.  Avoid cooking and vacuuming, which can increase pollutants indoors.
• Asthmatics should follow their asthma management plan.
• Contact your doctor if you have symptoms such as chest pain, chest tightness, shortness of breath, or severe fatigue.  This is important for not only people with chronic lung or heart disease, but also for individuals who have not been previously diagnosed with such illnesses. Smoke can “unmask” or produce symptom of such diseases. 
• Keep airways moist by drinking lots of water. Breathing through a warm, wet washcloth can also help relieve dryness.

The U.S. Forest Service is managing response to the Ralston Fire, which is burning 17 miles from Foresthill in the Tahoe National Forest. According to the Forest Service, no structures are threatened.   For information about the fire, please call the USFS Ranger station at 530-367-2224, 367-6550, 367-6551, or 367-6552. Please do not call 9-1-1 for information; call only to report an emergency, such as a fire you can see