Palo Alto residents got the all-clear Saturday to open their windows again.

The Bay Area Air District lifted its Spare the Air advisory on Saturday, Aug. 1, after favorable winds pushed wildfire smoke away from the region and the Mines Fire in eastern Santa Clara County reached 80% containment, according to Cal Fire. The advisory had been in effect since Thursday, July 30, when smoke from the Woodside Fire in Sonoma County drifted south across the Bay Area.

The wood-burning ban that accompanied the alert is also over. During the advisory, all fireplaces, wood stoves, pellet stoves, and outdoor fire pits were prohibited.

The Mines Fire: close to home, not yet done

The Mines Fire, burning near Mines Road and San Antonio Valley Road in the hills east of Mount Hamilton, is the most locally relevant blaze for South Bay residents. The fire sits roughly 25 miles east of San Jose Mineta International Airport in unincorporated Santa Clara County.

It ignited Sunday, July 26, and initially burned 132 acres. Two days later, on Tuesday, July 28, the fire jumped a control line and grew to 283 acres. Containment dropped from 40% to 25% before crews regained the upper hand. Cal Fire deployed 24 engines, eight hand crews, four water tenders, two helicopters, and numerous air tankers at the peak of the fight, the Mercury News reported.

No structures have been damaged or threatened. The cause remains under investigation.

The fire reached 80% containment by 8:13 p.m. Friday, July 31, according to Cal Fire data. It is not yet fully contained, and mop-up operations continue.

What residents should know now

The Air District said it will continue monitoring wildfire smoke conditions. Residents can track real-time air quality at fire.airnow.gov.

"It does impact all of us, and especially we live in an area where there are wildfires pretty often. So that's a cumulative impact over those years of breathing that smoke in. So you really do need to protect your health, regardless of your age," Tina Landis of the Bay Area Air District told ABC7 on Friday, July 31, while the advisory was still active.

For anyone who experiences lingering smoke, the district recommends staying indoors with windows closed and wearing a tight-fitting N95 mask outside. Children, older adults, and people with respiratory conditions such as asthma or COPD face elevated risk from fine particulate matter.

The Woodside Fire in Sonoma County, the other blaze that triggered the advisory, was 45% contained at about 152 acres as of Saturday. Evacuation orders for that fire were lifted Friday evening.

Residents can monitor the Mines Fire's status at Cal Fire's incident page.