Unhealthy Air Again Blankets Simi Valley

A thick, milky smog that crept in from the Los Angeles area continued to hang over eastern Ventura County on Thursday, causing officials to declare the air in Simi Valley “unhealthful” for the third time this week.

So far this year the air has been unhealthy--or in violation of federal standards--13 times in the county. Eight of those violations have occurred in Simi Valley.

“The air is so thick--it looks like you could cut it with a knife,” said Pam Campeau, assistant executive director of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce.

But while the residents of Simi Valley choked through the haze, the air was listed as good Thursday in coastal areas of the county.

“It’s not bad around here,” Herman Ragsdale, an air quality specialist with the county Air Pollution Control District, said of the air in the Ventura area. “Normally a sea breeze blows everything out.”

Last year the air quality standards exceeded federal regulations 46 times in Ventura County, with most of the violations occurring in the eastern part of the county and in Ojai.

Usually the smog blows up from Oxnard and Camarillo and settles between the eastern hills.

Occasionally, the wind blows the smog from the San Fernando Valley into the eastern county. On Thursday, Piru barely missed violating air-quality standards.

“This has certainly been one of the worst days of the year,” Ragsdale said Thursday.

Simi Valley also registered unhealthful air on Sunday and Wednesday. The air exceeded federal health standards in Piru and Thousand Oaks on Sunday.

But relief is in sight, said Kent Field, a meteorologist with the county Air Pollution Control District.

Low fog is expected to move in from the ocean today, pushing the smog out of the eastern portion of the county area, Field said.

But one Simi Valley resident was not taking any chances.

“I’ve been inside all day, and I think this is where I’m going to stay,” Summer O’Neill, an 18-year-old clerk at the 7-Eleven store on Yosemite Street, said Thursday. “The air looks almost blue-gray. It’s gross.”

ALERTS: A state panel has toughened standards on smog alerts. A3