Smoke from Canadian forest fires spread across the central and eastern US on Thursday, disrupting air travel as well as work and school routines for the second consecutive day.
Millions of people in cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington woke up to air pollution from the fires, leading them to put on masks used during the coronavirus emergency. New York’s air quality again ranked worst among major global cities on Thursday, according to the IQAir World Air Quality index.
Canada has been battling an active wildfire season with blazes in most of its 10 provinces and its territories for most of the past month. More than 400 fires were active across Canada this week, with about 4mn hectares burnt so far this year, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
The US will send all available federal firefighting teams to tackle the blazes raging in Canada, the White House said in a statement. US president Joe Biden called Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday to offer “additional support” in responding to the fires.
Inbound flights to New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Philadelphia International Airport were halted at one point on Thursday due to the smoke. Ground stops and delays have primarily interrupted flights from the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and Ohio. All flights nationwide into Newark Liberty International Airport were delayed.
“Reduced visibility from wildfire smoke will continue to impact air travel today,” the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The National Weather Service said the smoke would push southwards and westwards, deteriorating air quality in Alabama and Georgia on Friday.
Earlier this spring, fires in Canada’s main oil-producing province of Alberta forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate their homes and caused more than a dozen oil and gas companies to temporarily shut or curtail operations. More blazes have now taken hold in the forests of eastern provinces such as Quebec.
Scientists have observed fires in the boreal forests of the northern hemisphere increasing in intensity over the past decade. Average temperatures across the north of the planet have risen faster than closer to the equator as a result of global warming, as the reflective snow and ice of the Arctic melts away.
Source: Financial Times
