NO KIDDING: As fires chewed up the...

NO KIDDING: As fires chewed up the Ventura County countryside, the Air Pollution Control District’s taped message was insistent: “The district declares Thursday, Oct. 28, to be a no-burn day in all regions.”. . . Every day, the district determines whether allowing farmers to burn agricultural waste would increase air pollution. If not, the district asks fire officials whether such burn-offs would be safe. . . . In the past year, the county allowed burns on only 36 days, mostly in winter and spring. . . . Today is a no-burn day, too.

TELETHON ON: The Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge is holding its first-ever fund-raising telethon, starting at 6 p.m. Saturday. But what if more fires make news? . . . “Through rain and hail and earthquake and tidal waves and monsoons and fires, we will keep to this schedule,” said John Huddy, general manager of KADY-TV. . . . Campus Director Joyce Kennedy hopes the event will raise $45,000--the campus’s budget shortfall. . . . Enrollment is up by 11% this year, to 1,300 students.

FIRE FALLOUT: Finally, some good news out of all the fires: They won’t have much long-term impact on Southern California’s beleaguered economy (D1). . . . Tourism in Laguna Beach will suffer, of course, but experts predict a small boost in home-construction jobs throughout the region. . . . And even though it seems the rest of the country sees California as perpetually racked by fires and earthquakes, the state’s attractiveness to investors should not change. . . . Said one economist: “These things tend to be very temporary, causing a short-term dip, but things come back fairly quickly.”

TARDY SUNRISE: No, it’s not all that smoke that’s making the mornings seem so dark. It’s the sun rising later than usual, thanks to the late switch back to standard time. . . . Daylight-saving time always ends on the last Sunday in October. So Sunday’s 2 a.m. time change will occur on the last possible date. . . . Result: unusually late sunrises this week. On Saturday, the sun will rise at 7:12 a.m. Even on the darkest day of winter, Dec. 21, the sun will be up at 6:56. . . . For firefighters, the later the sunrise, the better. Winds always pick up at dawn as surface air gets warmer and starts moving.