(TNS) - Shrouded in near darkness, beneath a gloomy, orange sky, Fabian Rios worked to repair a fire hydrant late Wednesday morning. 

Working alongside the headlights of his truck, the Bay Area utility employee said the lack of light wasn’t troubling him. 

“The real problem is the ash falling from the sky,” said Rios, who works for the city of Mountain View and was wearing a surgical mask. “I am just getting covered.” 

As fires rage up and down the West Coast, the skies over California have taken an apocalyptic turn — choking the air with ash and smoke in some regions, while snuffing out sunlight in others. Rarely have so many Californians breathed such unhealthy air.

“About half of the state’s population has been impacted by wildfire smoke levels exceeding air quality standards,” said Melanie Turner, a California Air Resources Board spokeswoman, referring to tiny, lung-damaging pollution particles known as PM2.5.

In parts of Southern California, soot fell like snow. Air quality officials issued a wildfire smoke advisory for much of the region, warning “meteorological conditions will bring smoke and ash into portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange Counties.”

People downwind of the Bear fire — including those in Paradise, site of a deadly 2018 blaze — suffered amid the smoke, with many unable to turn on air conditioners because of an intentional PG&E power outage.

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