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Singapore Haze, PG&E Shutoffs and a Birmingham Ozone Alert — October 14, 2026

Canairy · 4 min read · 2026-10-14

Modern skyscrapers rising through a hazy, smoggy sky
Photo: Egg thing / Pexels

Smoke from Indonesia's fires is getting worse across Southeast Asia, while dry winds have California and Colorado utilities cutting power to prevent new fires. Closer to the ground, hot and stagnant weather is building ozone in Alabama.

Singapore pollution hits its highest level this year

Singapore's one-hour PM2.5 reading reached 284 micrograms per cubic meter in the west of the island on Wednesday, entering the National Environment Agency's "very high" band for the first time this haze period, NBC News reports. East Timor suspended in-person classes for three days, citing pollutant particles from wildfires in neighboring areas.

Indonesia is in its most intense wildfire season in 11 years, driven by El Niño-related dry weather, and several Malaysian states have also closed schools. Officials said more than 69,000 firefighting personnel are now deployed, up from about 44,000 in mid-September, and that smoldering peatland fires remain hard to put out.

PG&E warns 70,000 customers of possible power shutoffs

PG&E told about 70,000 customers in 29 California counties that their power could be shut off starting Wednesday evening, with a wind event expected to last through Saturday, October 17, according to OilPrice. Diablo winds are expected to peak Thursday in the northern and central Sierra Nevada and parts of the Bay Area, with humidity possibly falling into single digits in some areas.

San Luis Obispo, Placer, Calaveras and El Dorado counties face the largest potential outages. In Placer County, more than 9,000 customers were warned they could lose power for up to three days, and this would be the third shutoff event in a week, CBS Sacramento reports. If you have an air purifier, it's worth thinking ahead about how you'd run it without grid power.

Code Orange ozone alert for Birmingham

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management issued a Code Orange air quality alert for Wednesday in Jefferson and Shelby counties, AL.com reports. Ground-level ozone is expected to reach levels unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as children and people with respiratory conditions, under hot, dry and stagnant conditions.

Ozone usually peaks in the afternoon, so mornings tend to be the better time for outdoor activity on alert days.

Aspen Acres fire traced to a tree on power lines

Colorado investigators concluded that the Aspen Acres fire started when an aspen tree, blown down by 45 mph winds, fell across power lines in Custer County around dawn on June 29, The Denver Post reports. Sparks ignited grass and pine needles, and the fire grew into the seventh-largest in Colorado history, destroying hundreds of homes.

The lines belonged to San Isabel Electric Association, which faces multiple lawsuits and said it could not comment on the report because of pending litigation.

Xcel explains Western Slope outages

Xcel Energy told Garfield County commissioners that this year's outages there were not planned shutoffs, but the result of a more sensitive line setting used when wildfire risk is high, the Aspen Daily News reports. Under that setting, a line stops carrying power when something like a falling branch or an animal touches it, and crews inspect it before turning it back on.

Sources

Canairy aggregates publicly reported air-quality and wildfire news and summarizes it in plain English, with links to the original sources. This is educational information, not medical or emergency advice. In a wildfire or air-quality emergency, follow guidance from local authorities.