Wildfires lead to air warnings across the US
Canadian wildfires are causing harmful smoke to drift across the U.S., leading to air and health warnings across the country.
According to airnow.gov, a number of locations throughout the Mid-Atlantic and eastern part of the U.S. have reported air quality categorized as “unhealthy”, with cities like Philadelphia and a few areas in upstate New York citing air quality that was either very unhealthy or hazardous.
Hazy conditions from the wildfires were also reported across the Great Lakes region of the country including cities like Cleveland and Buffalo, N.Y., which reported unhealthy air quality or unhealthy air quality for people in sensitive groups.
Ten school districts in central New York canceled outdoor activities due to the air warnings, according to CNN,
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) warned that hazy skies, reduced visibility and the odor of burning wood are likely and that the smoke will linger for a few days in the northern part of the country.
The recent advisories come as smoke fires in the province of Quebec have been burning in the past few days.
The ongoing wildfires have led Canadian authorities to order evacuations of residents with the province’s forest fire prevention agency saying that more than 150 forest fires were burning in the province on Tuesday, including more than 110 deemed out of control.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.