Skip to main content
Sep 9, 2020 - Science

In photos: Bay Area enveloped in smoke as wildfires rage across California

Orion Rummler
Someone wearing a face mask looks up while standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge
A view of the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. Photo: Jessica Christian/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images

San Francisco's skies were thick with smoke from ongoing wildfires on Wednesday, largely blocking the sun from view amid hazardous air quality across the Bay Area.

The big picture: Roughly 14,000 firefighters are battling 28 major wildfires across California. There have been eight fatalities from wildfires this year and over 2.5 million acres have burned across the state, per Cal Fire.

  • Much of the Bay Area did not have dawn or daylight on Wednesday, Axios' Scott Rosenberg reports from San Francisco.
  • Large pockets of air quality across California, as well as western Oregon, have been deemed "hazardous" by the federal government. Air quality across much of Washington state is currently "unhealthy."
Birds eye view of cars driving down a mountain road
Cars drive along Ygnacio Valley Road in Concord, Calif. Photo: Brittany Hosea-Small/AFP via Getty Images
A man holds a long brush against the front entrance of "Fairyland"
Jim McVeigh, a custodian, cleans the entrance of Children's Fairyland in Oakland. Photo: Yalonda M. James/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
People walk under a concrete pillar labeled "Pier 14" with a bridge in the distance
Pier 14 in San Francisco. Photo: Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
A car drives along a road with houses in the background
Bejhan Razi observes repairs on lamp post clock in downtown Mill Valley, Calif. Photo: Scott Strazzante/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
A man wearing a bucket hat stands in a field with people in the distance, under an orange sky
Golfers on preview day for the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif. Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
A domed city hall building seen from a distance, with flags lining a sandy walkway
San Francisco City Hall. Photo: Lea Suzuki/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
Long-distance view of the San Francisco skyline through a haze of red smoke
The San Francisco skyline. Photo: Philip Pacheco/Getty Images
Go deeper