Smoke from the Elsmere Fire in Newhall spread throughout Santa Clarita, causing air quality for the valley to become “very unhealthy.”

Officials with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) reported that air quality within the Santa Clarita Valley was “very unhealthy,” the second most hazardous designation the agency can assign to an area.

As of 6:30 p.m., the Air Quality Index (AQI) for the Santa Clarita Valley was recorded at 205, placing it five points above the threshold required to attain a “very unhealthy” designation. 

Officials attribute the high AQI reading to smoke produced from the Elsmere Fire, which broke out in Newhall at around 1:30 p.m. Monday.

See Related: Elsmere Fire Reported Near 14 Freeway In Newhall, Road Closures In Place

By the time that firefighters were able to halt the blaze’s forward progress at around 4:10 p.m., smoke from the fire had spread across the Santa Clarita Valley, with residents from as far as northeastern Canyon Country reportedly being able to smell it from their homes.

South Coast AQMD officials forecast that air quality should improve by Tuesday, with a project AQI of 133 for the Santa Clarita Valley.

However, that AQU forecast would still place Santa Clarita’s air quality under the “unhealthy for sensitive individuals” category, a designation that the valley has become familiar with over the past several weeks due to a continuous onset of various brush fires.

For more information on Santa Clarita’s air quality, click here.

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