Smoke in the air delays and cancels flights, postpones annual "Big Game" between Cal and Stanford

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The smoke from the Camp Fire in Butte County is not only unhealthy it's causing flight delays and postponing major events in the Bay Area.

It's a struggle to see the sun and Oakland Airport's control tower through the smoke.

LIST: Events canceled in Bay Area due to Camp Fire smoke

"We were delayed an hour," said Traci Calderon, a Seattle resident visiting San Ramon.

The flight monitors at Oakland showed delays for both departures and arrivals Friday night. People traveling to the Bay Area were warned early in the week delays were possible. Piedmont resident Todd McClurkan got a flight alert Monday ahead of his flight Tuesday.

"Yeah, they were already saying your flight tomorrow might be affected," said McClurkan.

McClurkan left on business Tuesday and while away he stocked-up on N95 masks because they're sold out around the Bay.

RELATED: Check current Bay Area air quality levels

"I bought a 20 pack of these for the family, but I have some heavy duty ones coming in on Sunday, but that was the fast as I could get them even from Amazon Prime," said McClurkan.

Sabrina Ochoa is in from Dallas to attend the Big Game at Cal.

"I bought my ticket, my flight a long time ago," said Ochoa.

But to her surprise, the 121st match-up between UC Berkeley and Stanford is postponed due to the smoke.

"We know that the health of the players is obviously a big concern, but we just got the email a couple minutes ago," said William Ulrich, a junior at UC Berkeley.

RELATED: Bad air quality forces postponement of Big Game between Cal and Stanford

It's now scheduled for December First.

Calderon couldn't reschedule her sister's 50th birthday party so she brought a mask.

"I have asthma and I knew that the air was going to be compromised or my breathing would be compromised so we came prepared," said Calderon.

University officials considered moving the game to Levi's Stadium, but the air quality is not much better there. To give you some perspective the last time the Big Game was postponed was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.