California wildfires send smoke into the Phoenix area

PHOENIX – In the Valley, we began seeing a lot of haze in the sky on Wednesday from large wildfires burning in Southern California.

We spoke with some residents who were surprised to see the Valley blanketed by smoke.

California’s Bridge Fire in particular exploded in size overnight, growing to more than 47,000 acres and prompting mandatory evacuation orders. Overnight, crews worked to rescue people who could not escape the flames.

During the daytime on Wednesday, you couldn’t see South Mountain in the distance as the Valley skyline was muted by the smoke.

Residents react to the smoke

“I did notice it, like on my way to work this morning.”

“While I was driving all day today. Even when I was walking to school.”

Another person thought it was from a haboob.

“I think maybe it’s from the sandstorms in the summer.”

“It’s really from smoke? Really? Oh, OK.”

“It’s crazy.”

“A little bit alarming.”

“That’s crazy.”

The afternoon saw the worst of it. The air quality index hit 145 in the west Valley, making it unhealthy for sensitive groups.

“The fact that it’s impacting not only that state, but our state as well, it’s very unfortunate.”

The silver lining is that a hazy sky makes for a glowing sunset.

The National Weather Service says it expects this smoke through the weekend, but that could always change based off the directions the fires take.