By MADDIE KIRKMAN
Staff Writer
Lately in the San Joaquin Valley there has been extreme hazardous air quality. There has been ash falling from the mountains and you can see smoke filling the sky. It is dangerous to be breathing so much smoke. Several people have to wear masks outside due to the air. It has caused multiple people to have trouble breathing. People need to either stay indoors or make sure to wear a mask outside. Breathing this kind of air can hurt your lungs. The air quality got up to 329 this week, which is dangerously high. Pets and other animals have had to breathe this terrible air as well. This can damage their lungs and they could get breathing problems. Farm animals are getting affected by this and there is nothing anyone can do besides putting them in a barn. People need to keep their pets indoors until the air quality decreases. This is pretty upsetting because there are massive fires happening and multiple loved ones are losing their homes to this. Along with this, many trees are getting destroyed. Trees are one of our oxygen sources, which makes this situation even worse. Sadly, a lot of people aren’t taking these fires and air quality seriously. People make a joke out of it and refuse to wear a mask outside and it is only making matters worse. Throughout these past few weeks it has been getting colder as each day goes by. We should all pray that we get rain. The rain will put out the forest fires and improve the air quality then it will become safe again.