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■ lx. �EGlsu 1@1.,1 IILA Ib. r N , 4 t. � V t ABOVE: George Solorio and his family live on Lorraine Road, Record photos by CRAIG SANDERS about a half-mile northeast of the Tracy tire fire. Solorio says the smell gets worse in the evening, and it gives his wife and sister headaches. RIGHT: The fire still smolders weeks after it began. Smell %if o CA U an air ®dor kicks up as wind dies down , .tvR s � ,! n E FIs a By Rob Nelson it's just staying closer Record Staff Writer to the ground." r Which equates to �s RACY — It was midnight and the more sleepless nights �d * . house stank, said Gary Lightfoot, for Lightfoot and oth- ` a 52-year-old Tracy resident. Anders who live near the not just any "forgot to take out the smoldering " fire pile. , garbage?' stink but a toxic, debilitating Residents have been r _ odor that stung Lightfoot's throat raw forced to close their - and kept him and his wife up half the windows in the past k night. week lest the stench ` The aroma of smoldering tires. of burning rubber s "The smell was so bad the other waft into their homes, night, it woke us up," said Lightfoot, said Ange Olson, who Z " who lives in the American Classic sub- lives off of MacArthur �a � division in south Tracy. "And it's been a Boulevard about two lot worse in the last few days than it's miles north of the tire been all summer." yard American Classic sits only a few "It just smells so " miles from S.F. Royster Tire Disposal, bad when the wind 4 xq the tire junkyard that's been burning isn't blowing," Olson since a spark from a weed trimmer said. "You can't even * " ignited the pfle in early August. More go outside." than 7 million tires have gone up in The problem is fall " = b flames since then, sending clouds of With the change of k acrid smoke billowing over parts of the seasons comes an Y r Central Valley. obvious change in s A compost fire that started last week weather patterns, sev- near Vernalis is also contributing to the eral of which have Valle haze. conspired to kee the a� But only with the arrival of fall has tire smoke from blow- y h> ' •,' `� xa�x ` the smoke begun to settle over populat- ung out of the Valley ed a areas. like it did all summer, originate in the northwest and push We've gotten some calls recently Spagnoli said. f P from residents concerned that there First, the wind isn't as strong as it their way down south," Smith appears to be more smoke," said Jim used to be, said Mike Smith, a meteo- explained. "During fall, though, it's nor- Spagnoli, a spokesman for the rologist with the National Weather mal for the winds to die down a little." California Environmental Protection Service. For the first several weeks after And then there's the temperature. As Agency. 'But the levels of toxicity in the the fire started, the usual Delta breezes the weather cools, the air clinging clos- area are on a par with historical levels pushed the smoke away from nearby est to the earth isn't heated as much for this time of year. There's not more homes and down the Valley. as it is during summer, Spagnoli said. smoke coming from the tire pile now, "Generally during summer the winds Please see TIRES,Back page