A wildfire burns near Fallbrook in San Diego County on July 26. (Photo: Randy Miramontez) After two weeks straight of heavy smoke blanketing Northern California from multiple wildfires, some residents got a bit of a break this week. Blue skies began to reappear from Sacramento to the Sierra and “good” to “moderate” air quality ratings returned, replacing the previous alarming “unhealthy” ratings.
Firefighters cross scorched terrain in the Padres National Forest. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)Some were bank robbers, car thieves and burglars. Now they are on the front lines in the scary and dangerous job of saving California from raging wildfires. There are about 3,900 of them, all state prison inmate volunteers from 44 fire camps spread across California.
OPINION: Tobacco companies have spent more than $70 million fighting Proposition 56, a life-saving initiative that will protect kids from deadly addiction, improve access to health care for Californians and fight cancer and other tobacco-related diseases. As a volunteer physician for the American Lung Association in California, I strongly support Prop 56.
California motorists in a traffic jam. (Photo: Shutterstock)As a physician – especially a physician living in Los Angeles – I am deeply concerned about the effects of air pollution on lung health. Southern California is home to some of the most entrenched air pollution in our nation and it affects the millions of our residents living with asthma, heart and lung disease and other chronic health conditions.