By Joseph Ax and Eric Cox
NEW YORK, July 16 (Reuters) – Heavy smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada enveloped a swath of the U.S. from the Midwest to the Northeast on Thursday, prompting warnings from officials that residents should stay indoors wherever possible and avoid the acrid, unhealthy air.
Detroit registered the worst air quality of any city in the world on Thursday, according to monitoring company IQAir, with a pollution index of 600, twice the level considered “hazardous” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Federal data showed dangerous levels of smoke across Minnesota, Michigan, northern Illinois, northern Ohio and into Ontario, with hazardous readings in such major cities as Minneapolis, Milwaukee and Toronto. Ten states reported at least some locations with an “unhealthy” reading, stretching from Minnesota to as far south as Maryland.
“It’s wild because when you look outside you think it’s fog, and it’s completely covered the city, and it’s smoke, because when we walk outside it burns,” Chicago resident Stephaine Villanova, 33, said while out for a late-morning downtown stroll with her 68-year-old father. Both were wearing face masks.
“It’s basically a river of smoke pouring into the Midwest right now,” said Emily Fischer, an atmospheric chemist and professor at Colorado State University. “This is a direct connection to climate change. This is the climate change that people breathe.”
The smoke was expected to worsen throughout the day. In New York, where the sky was tinged with an orange haze and the air smelled acrid, local officials urged residents to limit their outdoor time and cautioned the elderly, pregnant women and people with other risk factors, such as heart and lung disease, to remain inside.
The dangerous conditions in the New York City metropolitan area came just days before the FIFA World Cup soccer final was set to be played in nearby New Jersey on Sunday in front of more than 80,000 fans.
“Today is expected to be the worst day of this event,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a gathering on Thursday. “At ‘unhealthy’ levels, everyone – not just people with asthma or heart conditions, not just older adults – everyone may feel health effects. So today, every New Yorker should take precautions.”
The city was handing out free KN95 face masks at hundreds of libraries, police precincts and firehouses, the mayor said.
As of Thursday morning, officials tallied 858 fires burning across Canada, including 111 considered out of control. Most of the fires were in the central provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario.
Roughly 5.9 million acres (2.4 million hectares) have burned during this wildfire season in Canada, according to government data. Climate experts say rising global temperatures are driving an increase in the frequency and intensity of wildfires around the world.
Wildfire smoke, which can linger in the air for weeks and travel thousands of miles, is more toxic than normal air pollution. Studies have linked wildfire smoke with higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, cancer, pregnancy complications and weakened immune defenses.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax in New Jersey and Eric Cox in Chicago; Additional reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico, and Caroline Stauffer and Wa Lone in Toronto; Writing by Joseph Ax and Steve Gorman; Editing by Mark Porter and Nick Zieminski)
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