California wildfires spread haze

The haze over eastern New Mexico on Monday was not just cloudcover.

Dan Heerding, emergency management director for the city of Clovis, said area residents were seeing wildfire smoke from California and other western states.

“There’s nothing burning here that we know about,” Heerding said.

There’s also nothing to worry about locally, according to Heerding and air-quality control officials.

“I’m looking at the state website for air quality monitoring and everything is green (meaning good air quality) with the exception of ... Las Cruces,” he said.

But the wildfire smoke did prompt the city of Albuquerque’s Environmental Health Department to issue a health alert for Monday afternoon and evening, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

Officials recommend those with respiratory conditions in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County limit outdoor activity.

Heerding said it’s not clear whether the smoke will remain over eastern New Mexico today.

California has experienced the largest fire in state history with more than 300,000 acres scorched.

Dozens of fires in western states have burned about 2 million acres in recent weeks.

Some reports show haze from the fire has traveled as far as Ohio.