Richmond Chevron Refinery Odor and West Savannah Air Monitors — October 24, 2026

Today's news is mostly about pollution close to home: a refinery odor in the Bay Area and a Georgia neighborhood starting to measure its own air. Two opinion pieces also look at what makes wildfires worse and what to do with the trees they leave behind.

Rotten-egg smell in Richmond traced to Chevron refinery

A rotten egg or sulfur odor in Richmond was traced to the Chevron refinery, where hydrogen sulfide reached more than 200 parts per billion at 7 p.m. Thursday, SFGATE reports. The Bay Area Air Quality Management District said that is more than six times California's baseline of 30 parts per billion, and one monitoring station averaged above the baseline for six of nine hours.

More than 130 complaints came in starting at 6:09 p.m., and residents in El Cerrito, San Pablo and Pinole were also affected. The exact source wasn't immediately identified. Supervisor John Gioia called for an investigation into the four-hour gap between when the odor was traced to the refinery and when Chevron issued its Level 1 community alert.

Hyperlocal monitors arrive in West Savannah

Residents of Ogeecheeton, a historically Black neighborhood in West Savannah, installed their first air-quality monitor on October 21, the Savannah Morning News reports. The small solar-powered device sits across the street from a concrete block factory that residents have linked to dust problems for decades.

The project brings together residents, the City of Savannah, researchers from Georgia Tech and MIT, and the nonprofit Harambee House. The monitor measures particle pollution from "fugitive dust," which drifts uncontrolled from industrial or construction sites. More monitors are planned for the area.

Opinion: climate change and the wildfire spark

In a commentary for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, a fire researcher argues that a human spark explains where a fire starts but not why it spreads so far. The piece cites research finding humans caused 84% of U.S. wildfires from 1992 to 2012, and argues that a warming climate dries vegetation and makes fires harder to contain.

Opinion: what to do with California's dead trees

A letter to the Los Angeles Times argues that removing dead and dying trees after wildfires can clear the way for replanting. The writer notes that standing dead trees eventually release their stored carbon and can fuel future fires.

Sources

• Richmond: Rotten Egg Smell From Chevron Refinery Exceeded State Standards — SFGATE
• Hyperlocal monitors will track air pollution in West Savannah — Savannah Morning News
• Smithwick: Humans may start wildfires. Climate change makes them catastrophic — Santa Rosa Press Democrat
• Letters to the Editor: Dead tree management is key to reversing California's wildfire trends — Los Angeles Times

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.