The polluted air from the 16 wildfires is all around us, and most of us are feeling miserable. I have had watery eyes, fatigue, chest pain, and a hacking cough.

Sometimes the particulates are invisible, but today, stepping out of an office building near Universal City, I could see and smell the burned leaves and wood from the conflagrations.

There is nothing we can do about it, we unfortunates with lungs. There is the usual advice to stay inside and turn on the air-conditioning. Supposedly, it will take several days for the smoke to dissipate.

You can’t even drive to the beach for relief. The air is filthy everywhere, and there isn’t a section of the Southland that is not affected.