Wildfires cause air quality alerts across North America and disrupt travel

Air quality alerts have been issued for millions of people across North America as wildfires continue to rage in Canada, causing evacuations, disruption to air travel, and smoke-filled skies even thousands of kilometres from the fires. The US National Weather Service has extended air quality alerts for the East Coast, from New England to South Carolina, as well as parts of the Midwest including Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Health officials in over a dozen US states have warned residents about potential respiratory issues due to high levels of fine particulates in the atmosphere.

Canada’s wildfire season this year has been its worst on record, with fires reported in almost all provinces and territories since May. Over 400 wildfires are still burning, particularly in the eastern province of Quebec, where around 150 fires were reported, and approximately 13,500 people have been forced to evacuate.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault stated that the situation was “stable” and no deaths or serious injuries had been reported so far. He added that it would take several more days before evacuees could return home. “It’s still exceptional given the intensity of the fires [that], to date, no loss of life, no serious injuries. That’s what’s most important, so continue to be careful,” Legault told reporters in Quebec City.

The wildfires have resulted in orange-tinged skies in major Canadian and US cities, including New York City, where the iconic skyline was obscured earlier this week due to thick smoke and smog. Briefly on Thursday, New York City’s air once again ranked more polluted than any major city in the world, reaching an overall reading of 178 on the Air Quality Index (AQI). The AQI measures five major pollutants, including particulate matter produced by fires, and readings over 100 are classified as “unhealthy” while those exceeding 300 are “hazardous”.

On Thursday morning, several readings were over the 300-mark in the Washington, DC, area as well, prompting local health authorities to declare a “Code Purple” to warn residents of “very unhealthy air conditions” linked to the wildfires. “Smoke from Canadian wildfires is causing unhealthy air quality in the Washington, DC area and the northeast US. This problem is likely to continue or worsen through Friday,” Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted.

Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington, DC, on Thursday afternoon, said “a milky haze” was still hanging over Capitol Hill. “It’s going to be a couple of days before this starts to clear. At the moment, it’s stretching thousands of kilometres from Canada all the way down to South Carolina,” Fisher said.

The haze and low visibility led aviation officials to halt incoming flights to major airports in New York and Philadelphia from the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, as well as Ohio, for a second day on Thursday. All flights bound for the airport in Newark, New Jersey, were also delayed. In Washington, DC, the White House pushed back its Pride Month event due to the smoke, and the Washington Nationals baseball team postponed its afternoon game, becoming the latest sporting event affected by the fires.

National Weather Service meteorologist Peter Mullinax said that smoky conditions are likely to persist until Sunday when a new storm system shifts the direction of prevailing winds. It will also bring a chance of rainfall for parts of the US nearing drought conditions. “We’re finally going to start to see more relief by the time we hit the early part of next week when we start to see those southerly winds come in and push that smoke more farther north and out into the Atlantic,” Mullinax said.

US President Joe Biden has stated that his administration is ready to provide additional support to help Canada respond to the blazes. The White House said in a statement that more than 600 firefighters and other personnel have been deployed to help their Canadian counterparts battle the flames, while further assistance was on the way. “Yesterday I spoke with Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau and offered any additional help Canada needs to rapidly accelerate the effort to put out these fires, particularly those in Quebec, where the fires are having the most direct impacts on American communities,” Biden said.