2023-06-08 12:42:41
Millions of people in the United States and Canada will remain at risk of breathing potentially harmful air from the Quebec wildfires on Thursday, as more officials urge people to limit time spent outdoors, then to hide for increased protection.
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Colossal clouds of thick smoke from active wildfires raging across Canada have descended over parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States, shrouding neighborhoods, parks and schoolyards in an orange haze filled with potential pollutants. And forecasts suggest it may take several days for the air to dissipate.
- Yves Poirier, journalist at TVA, is live from Senneterre in Abitibi. Listen to his account via QUB radio :
About 75 million people are under alert for poor air quality in the United States. Public schools in the Yonkers neighborhood are closed, while other school districts in the states of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC, have canceled outdoor activities. The Governor of New Jersey has encouraged local school boards to do the same.
“It’s bad or really bad, depending on where you are,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Wednesday, urging “young children, the elderly, anyone with lung problems, to stay indoors. If you must go out, remember to wear a good, well-fitting N95 mask.
Getty Images via AFP
Winds are expected to continue to push thick smoke further south into the mid-Atlantic, and it might suffocate Delaware, Maryland, northern Virginia and Washington, DC, Thursday morning.
Late Wednesday night, the air quality index in New York City rose above 320, meaning it was ‘hazardous’ or level 6 out of 6, the worst designation forAirNow.gov, an air quality data site maintained in partnership by several government agencies. The city’s air quality is starting to improve slightly, albeit still at a “very unhealthy” level at 5 out of 6.
Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa., were the hardest-hit metropolitan areas early Thursday morning, with air quality at “hazardous.” Other major cities in the United States facing “unhealthy” levels for sensitive groups” include Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Washington, DC.
People vulnerable to poor air quality, including the elderly and young children, are urged to limit time spent outdoors if possible.
Getty Images via AFP
Wildfire smoke has caused the worst air quality on record in decades, according to Mark Zondlo, an atmospheric chemist specializing in air quality monitoring and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton University .
“What makes it really unique – apart from the fact that the fires are huge in themselves – is that the air stays very close to the ground. So instead of being lifted up and dispersing into the atmosphere or being in the layer 10,000 feet above us, it’s basically hugging the ground and therefore not dispersing, Zondlo told CNN .
“The weather pattern is such that it channels that plume of smoke, keeping it close to the ground, and it comes in for a target just for us.”
Getty Images via AFP
US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau discussed the effects of wildfires on air quality on Wednesday, according to a statement from Trudeau’s office.
“Both leaders recognized the need to work together to address the devastating effects of climate change,” the statement said.
Biden directed federal firefighting resources to help put out the blazes, the White House said, adding that more than 600 firefighters and support personnel have already been deployed.
While these conditions persist, experts and officials have urged people to stay indoors as much as possible and wear N95 or KN95 face masks outside to ensure they are properly protected.
Wildfires are causing more frequent and severe poor air quality as the planet warms from the impacts of human-induced climate change, experts have said.
“We typically see these impacts with wildfires in the western United States and in the western mountains,” said Dr. Peter DeCarlo, associate professor in the Department of Health and Environmental Engineering at the Johns Hopkins University.
“The east coast is generally a bit more isolated from that stuff. Our forests tend to be wetter and don’t burn as much, but while we wait for climate change, even though it’s a unique experience we’re having right now, it might become a lot less unique and a little more common around the world. ‘future.’As New York’s air remains compromised, the state is providing one million N95 masks to those in need, the governor announced Wednesday night.
AFP
About 400,000 of those masks will be distributed at New York State parks and transit stations, among other places, Governor Kathy Hochul said. An additional 600,000 masks will be available in Homeland Security inventory for local governments to pick up, she added.
“Just stay indoors. The outdoors is dangerous in almost every part of our state,” the governor said, calling the poor air quality “unprecedented.”
To that end, outdoor events hosted by New York City have been canceled and city beaches will also remain closed, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday.
Although conditions may improve overnight through Thursday morning, air quality during the followingnoon and evening will drop once more, Adams said.
“I want to be clear, while there may be potential for conditions to improve significantly by Friday morning, the predictability of the smoke is low, it is difficult to predict the movement of the smoke. … This is an unpredictable series of events,” he added.
Elsewhere, officials in Pennsylvania and Delaware have issued a “red code” to warn residents of potentially harmful air quality.
A code red was issued in Philadelphia on Wednesday, warning that the elderly, young children and people who are pregnant or have heart or lung conditions might experience serious health effects from smoke, according to James Garrow, gatekeeper. word of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
“For those who are not considered to be in a susceptible group, we are asking these individuals to avoid strenuous outdoor activities such as jogging or exercising,” Garrow told CNN.
For Delaware, an air quality alert and a Code Red day of action are in effect through Thursday. State officials have advised residents to limit time spent outdoors and stay in an air-filtered space.
Additionally, Rhode Island’s air quality alert was extended through Thursday, citing heavy smoke and unhealthy particles on the air quality index.
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