Air stifles activities

Fresno Unified puts sports, recess on hold until Tuesday because of smoke.

By Mark Grossi and Bryant-Jon Anteola
The Fresno Bee

(Updated Friday, January 17, 2003, 4:37 PM)

Fresno children will stop indoor and outdoor school activities until Tuesday because of the smoke still wafting from a 6-day-old woodpile fire that now has the attention of federal and state authorities.

After a wind shift caused pollution readings to triple Thursday at one elementary school, the Fresno Unified School District announced the brief moratorium on sports, recess and all other physical activities.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Integrated Waste Management Board joined the effort to quell the fire, which began Saturday in a 25-foot-tall woodpile at Archie Crippen Excavation in southwest Fresno.

Large earth-moving equipment is scheduled to arrive today, and work will begin Saturday to pull apart the wood pile and douse the fire. The pile is the size of a football field filled two stories high, and the fire is burning deep within it.

Authorities estimate the fire suppression will take 10 to 15 days.

The state has committed $300,000 for the work. The price tag will probably spiral higher, but officials do not yet have further estimates. The federal government will pay whatever additional costs are necessary, said EPA spokesman Mark Merchant.

"We're going to put in any amount of money needed to stop the fire," said EPA spokesman Mark Merchant. "This is a unified effort with the state and the city."

Officials have said they will not decide until after the job is over whether property owner Archie Crippen will be required to repay the government. Crippen already faces possible fines of $50,000 or more per day from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Federal officials Thursday placed eight air monitors around the Crippen property, took readings for several hours and sent smoke particles captured in the monitors to a Fresno laboratory for evaluation.

"The majority of the pile is wood," Merchant said. "If you stand anywhere near it, it smells like a really dirty campfire. But we need to know more about it."

Monitors for the Valley air district picked up a midday spike at Fremont Elementary School in central Fresno after a light wind shifted. The levels jumped far beyond the federal health standard for small particles, which evade body defenses and trigger asthma and other lung problems.

"But we haven't seen elevated levels at the monitor at First and Shields," said Evan Shipp, supervising meteorologist with the district. "That shows you the hit-and-miss nature of this plume."

The fire and the current stagnant weather conditions have prompted the district to continue asking homeowners not to light fires in their fireplaces. The district also is warning residents to use caution in outdoor activities.

Fresno Unified, the state's fourth-largest school district, decided students should remain inside and not engage in physical activities.

Reacting to an air quality health advisory, Fresno Unified School District canceled all athletic events scheduled in the Fresno and Clovis area until Tuesday.

Fresno Unified was the only district to cancel all indoor and outdoor events, calling off six high school varsity basketball games -- two were scheduled Thursday.

Concerns about air quality increased this week because of the fire in southwest Fresno.

"This wasn't a judgment call," Fresno Unified athletic director John Mauer said. "All the experts said this is a wise decision. We don't want to take any chances with our children's health.

"I'm on the third floor of a downtown building, and I'm already feeling it. I'd hate to find out the effects an athlete would have trying to perform in these conditions."

All Clovis Unified events are expected to be played except those against Fresno Unified teams.

"From my understanding," Clovis Unified spokeswoman Kelly Avants said, "Fresno Unified is experiencing significant instances that we, fortunately, haven't had to deal with yet."

Washington and Central Unified school districts, and Memorial High, also did not cancel any activities but are taking precautions with outdoor activities.

The medical community continued to see an increase in lung-related visits to clinics, emergency rooms and doctors' offices. Dr. Malik Baz, a Fresno allergist, said mid-January is normally a slow time.

"But it has been picking up all week," Baz said. "It's very busy. Today is the busiest day we've had."

The hardest-hit groups are children and senior citizens, he said. And asthma is the prevalent problem. Baz said he prescribes medication and advises patients to say indoors.

He said he even took his own advice Thursday: "I had my lunch inside at the office. I never left the building today."

The reporters can be reached at mgrossi@fresnobee.com, bjanteola@fresnobee.com or 441-6330.