Wildfires - Any Impact at DLR?

[Ed]

First and foremost, condolences to the families and fellow firefighters of the two who have made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as prayers and for everybody out west being affected by these fires.

I am curious to know the approximate distance between DLR and the nearest of the fires, and whether the smoke from them is having any effect on the parks.

[LuvsTigger80]

Hi Ed!!!

I live about 30mins from DLR and so far have not had any problems with the smoke from the fires. We are a good hour away.... usually with the fires we have ash and really heavy smoke, but not this time. Just keep fingers crossed for and anyone else who are fighting those

Sam

[Disney4us2]

Hi,
I live an hour north of DLR and we have a lot of smoke, some ash. The other night we were able to see the I haven't been down to the DLR area, I don't think they are affected. If there is anyone in the OC area, please correct me

Thank goodness for those brave, hero My sympathies to the families of the 2 that gave their lives. Those heros saved the houses in our area last year with the Sylmar fire.

[whistlewhileyouwork]

I am running the DL 1/2 marathon this weekend and Disney Running sent the participants an email yesterday calming everyones fears about air quaility for the race. It said basically NOT TO WORRY...the fires are far enough from the resort and race route.

Those poor people....keep them in your prayers.

[BrerGnat]

Ed,

We live about 15 miles south of Anaheim. We just returned yesterday from a 3 night stay at the Grand Californian Hotel (checked in Sunday).

When we arrived on Sunday, air quality was fine. We could see a HUGE billow of smoke to the east of the DLR. It was very well defined. The smoke cloud remained throughout Monday as well. Blue skies and good air quality prevailed though.

By Tuesday, the air became very muggy. It was oppressively hot on Tuesday as well. The sky had turned sort of hazy, but the air seemed okay still. We spent most of the day in the resort pool.

On Tuesday, late afternoon, my younger son (he's 3) began coughing quite badly. He tends to become asthmatic in poor air quality situations. Every time there are wildfires and we are affected, he develops a croup-like cough and begins wheezing. This has been happening since he was about 1 year old, when the first really bad wildfires hit our area back in October 2007. Anyway, he was coughing well into the evening and throughout the night (even though we were inside the hotel room at this point). That evening, I noticed a thin coating of ash on our balcony railing. Also, when the sun set, it was a very pink, hazy sunset.

When we left yesterday morning, we were glad we were leaving! The air smelled heavily of smoke. Upon picking up our car from self parking, it was covered in ash. The sky was brown all day yesterday. Air quality was awful at DLR and in our city as well (and even further south...the mountains down towards Camp Pendleton had smoke over the top of them...we could see in the distance). Apparently, there is also a fire in San Bernardino, which explained that.

Air quality today is somewhat better. I dropped my son off at preschool and the smoke smell is gone from the air, and the sky is sort of bluish brown. However, looking north towards Anaheim, I see more brown than blue.

I hope the air gets better for all those running the 1/2 marathon. To be honest, I am a runner too. I'm not running the marathon, but I chose NOT to run my usual 3 miles yesterday, due to the fine ash flying around in the air. I'm debating whether or not to jog today...

Even if they get those fires under control, the ash continues to be a problem for several days afterward, unfortunately. That has been our experience over the past few years.

I will keep you all updated. I'm sure Disney wants to reassure everyone, but they also have a lot of $$$ riding on this marathon too...

Oh, forgot to mention: Tuesday and Wednesday, they were going around the Grand Calfornian and REPLACING all the air filters in the A/C units. There were carts all around the resort with boxes of air filters and maintenance people replacing units. Whether this is due to the fires or not, I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling it is related. They do the same thing at our apartment complex when there are wildfires...