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Most people don't realize how close L.A. is to the state's agricultural region. Drive a little north of the county and all of a sudden you're surrounded by green fields, rows of produce and farmworkers.

As the Hughes Fire tore through Northern L.A. County, thousands of farmworkers continued to pick strawberries, leafy greens and other produce in hazy smoke in Ventura County.

California has some of the strongest regulations in the nation to protect farmworkers from wildfire smoke. It's one of only three states, along with Oregon and Washington, that require employers to provide masks to workers when the air quality reaches unhealthy levels. But the fact that many farmworkers labored through the smoke of the Los Angeles fires underscores the limitations of California's laws, worker advocates say...

Parts of Northern L.A. and Ventura County had Air Quality Index (AQI) levels around 150 on Jan. 22 when the Hughes Fire erupted, turning the sky orange. But thousands of farmworkers continued to work in the fields...

A new law that allows farmworkers to take sick days when the AQI reaches unhealthy levels took effect this year. But according to UFW spokesperson Antonio de Loera, workers feel the financial pressure to continue working during wildfires...

Farmworkers typically work between eight to 10 hours a day outside. It's hard physical work, so when it's smokey outside, workers are breathing in more smoke...

As soon as the Hughes Fire in Northern Los Angeles County erupted Jan.22, the United Farm Workers and other community groups knew they had to deploy thousands of N95 respirators to farmworkers in Ventura County...

Strater says union workers receive masks at job sites, while non-union workers often do not. Still, the workers are a tight knit community and look out for one another, she says...