Blame Canada: Pictures Show Hazy Air in US Cities as Wildfires Impact Air Quality

Thick smog blanketed much of the Northeast Tuesday, as intense smoke from Canadian wildfires crossed into the U.S. and prompted air quality alerts for tens of millions of Americans.

Quebec is battling more than 160 wildfires as of Tuesday but only has enough wilderness firefighters to fight less than 20%, the Canadian government said.

Smoke from the blazes has been drifting into the U.S. since last month, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency predicts it will linger. Pictures showed New York skylines clouded by smoke, painting the city's sky a bleak gray.

Darren Austin, a meteorologist and senior air quality specialist with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, said “it's not unusual for us to get fire smoke in our area” that traveled from Canada, but usually it is innocuous. But now, the entire state of Rhode Island is under health alerts due to the thick smoke.

While we have natural defenses in our upper airways to prevent larger, dangerous particles from polluting our lungs, the particles in the smoke traveling from Canada are “sort of the right size to get past our defenses,” said Dr. David Hull, a Connecticut pulmonologist on the American Lung Association's National Board of Directors.

Kids are more susceptible to smoke pollution. In places where the air quality is deemed “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” it’s best they avoid going outside, experts warned. Those in the “sensitive groups” also include the elderly and people with asthma. 

In almost all of New York State Tuesday, the air was deemed unhealthy for everyone.

“When those particles get down into the respiratory space, they cause the body to have an inflammatory reaction to them,” Hull said.

With The Associated Press.