Photo source: Dennis Johnson.

Long Beach resident Dennis Johnson provided the photo above that he says he shot from atop Signal Hill at about 8:30 a.m. He says he took several photos with his iPhone and then assembled them into a panorama using the Autostitch app. "I then used the clarity filter in the camera app I used (Camera+) to help even out shadows and tone and bring out detail." He says it's not "PhotoShopped" and is what he saw from just off Panorama Drive. Mr. Johnson adds that by the time he returned to Cal Hts at about 9:15 a.m. "ash was starting to fall like snowflakes."

By the 8:00 a.m. hour, the smoke plume had amassed and visible across Long Beach neighborhoods. LBREPORT.com had photos, advisories and updates on our front page as they occurred.

LBREPORT.com photo, smoke plume visible from ELB, 8:40 a.m.

Photo courtesy Charlie McGrail to LBREPORT.com

By the 10:00 a.m. hour, the fire had grown to an estimated 1,700 acres, daylight turned yellowish and the sunlight dimmed in East Long Beach.

An ashfall was also confirmed in Bixby Knolls, WLB and [updated] ELB [area Studebaker/Wardlow, ash visibly falling, end update] The Bixby Knolls area ashfall was confirmed by former Long Beach (now Oregon) resident Linda Ivers, who happened to be back in Long Beach briefly. "It's not a snowfall but there are large bits of ash coming down," she said...and the photos (taken in the area of Atlantic Ave./45th St. speak for themselves.

Photo by Linda Ivers

Photo by Linda Ivers

At 8:10 a.m., AQMD issued a "smoke advisory" stating in part:

[AQMD text] With increasing offshore flow this morning, smoke impacts from the Colby Fire are expected to be in the immediate area around the fire with smoke moving into the Los Angeles basin. Smoke production from this fire is currently high. Areas directly impacted by smoke and ash may experience air quality in the Unhealthy range, or higher. Depending on fire and weather conditions, the portions of the South Coast Air Basin where smoke impacts and Unhealthy air quality are most likely to occur include portions of:the East San Gabriel Valley (Forecast Area 9); the Pomona/Walnut Valley (Forecast Area 10); the South San Gabriel Valley (Forecast Area 11).

"Smoke may be experienced in additional areas of Los Angeles County downwind of the fire, depending on evolving conditions, but air quality is expected to remain in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups category in the following areas: Southeast Los Angeles County (Forecast Area 5); South Central Los Angeles County (Forecast Area 12); Southwest Los Angeles County Coastal (Forecast Area 3); South Los Angeles County Coastal (Forecast Area 4).

"In any area directly impacted by smoke: Everyone should avoid any vigorous outdoor or indoor exertion; people with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly, and children should remain indoors. Keep windows and doors closed or seek alternate shelter. Run your air conditioner if you have one. Keep the fresh air intake closed and the filter clean to prevent bringing additional smoke inside. To avoid worsening the health effects of wildfire smoke, don*t use indoor or outdoor wood-burning appliances, including fireplaces.

LBUSD spokesman Chris Eftychiou told LBREPORT.com that LBUSD's HQ shared the AQMD information with its schools in addition to a note from LBUSD's Nursing Services Supervisor indicating that [as of early morning] conditons may reach unhealthful at worst [there are add'l levels before reaching AQMD's worst.] LBUSD HQ has reminded schools to use good judgment when determining activity levels, and that students with asthma and respiratory illness should be monitored for problems.

At an 11 a.m. news conference [carried LIVE on LBREPORT.com], officials indicated that winds out of the NE might shift, and instead blow northward. (This would be rough for firefighters battling the flames but might begin to clear the air in Long Beach, although winds have been erratic.)

In the early afternoon, the Santa Ana winds shifted...and an on-shore flow blew smoke inland away from Long Beach. By the 2:00 p.m. hour, skies were blue again (but air quality experts cautioned were still filled with particulates too small to see.)