Susanville area residents rejoiced on Friday over clear skies in their region. 

The Park Fire, which has been burning since last Wednesday and has taken nearly 400 thousand acres, is within 100 miles of the fire.

For the last three days, the Susanville area has been experiencing hazardous smoke levels. When the clouds rolled and the smoke rolled out on Friday morning, residents were relieved.

"I love it. I can see the sky. Look at that, haha, I can't believe that," said Susanville resident Doris Walker.

"It was so smokey you couldn't see the mountains, and you know you just walked outside; you couldn't breathe. Your eyes are burning, and ash is falling all over the cars. Yeah, it's been bad," said Litchfield resident Tim Patterson.

"Smoke limits my exposure. I have about three air cleaners running in my house, and because I can't afford to air condition it, I'm staying out of it," said a Susanville resident we met named Lisa.

"I've been a little bit sick, so it didn't help to have the smoke, but our prayers are just with the people of Chico. My husband is a firefighter with U.S. Forest, and he left yesterday to go help," said Janesville resident Sue Noggles. "we feel blessed that it's not here.

"We feel blessed that it's not here. We had the Dixie fire in our backyard for two months, two and half months, in 2021, and I evacuated for almost a month. And we had to take our horse and dogs and cats., It was really frightening," said Noggles.

Susanville is home to the Cal Fire Lassen-Modac Unit, which responds to fires across the Lassen National Forest, where the Park Fire is burning.

Residents tell us the smoke this week is reminiscent of the 2021 Dixie Fire, the second-largest fire in California history and also in Lassen County.