Wildfires in Canada | Millions of Americans affected by pollution

(Washington) Distribution of masks, flights delayed due to low visibility, outdoor events canceled… The northeastern United States is breathing air again on Thursday very heavily polluted by the smoke from fires in Canada, causing concerns for the health of tens of millions of Americans.

This episode of air pollution, very rare, extends from Illinois in the north, to South Carolina. In particular, it causes concern for the health of fragile people, such as children, the elderly, or those with heart or respiratory problems.

The UN boss as well as environmental organizations have stressed the need to combat climate change, which exacerbates the risk of fires. Large fires occurred particularly early this year in Quebec, and their smoke is pushed directly south due to weather conditions.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Linda Juliano, 65, told New York City as she accepted one of the millions of face masks distributed to residents on Thursday. “It’s more difficult to breathe, because I have asthma,” she lamented, judging the situation “agonizing”.

“It reminded me a lot of 9/11, to see the sky filled with smoke,” she said.

Impressive images of New York, bathed in orange light, make the front page of all American newspapers, even if the sky was clearer there Thursday morning.

Zoos in the Bronx and Central Park were closed, as was one in Washington, where a professional baseball game was canceled Thursday.

“Purple” alert

In the country’s capital, the situation is even worse than the day before, the air quality alert having changed from “red” to “purple”. This level of pollution is described as “very harmful to health”.

An event celebrating the month of pride LGBT + (Pride Month), which was to take place Thursday evening at the White House outside, has been postponed.

For the second day in a row, children in Washington public schools will not be able to spend their recess outside, and outdoor sports classes have been canceled.

Flights from New York (LaGuardia, Newark) or Philadelphia airports are experiencing delays due to low visibility, warned the US Civil Aviation Agency (FAA).

Global warming exacerbates the risk of fires and their intensity. The increase in temperature, the multiplication of heat waves and the drop in precipitation in places represent an ideal combination for their development.

“The climate crisis is here, here and now, and is causing dangerous air pollution, threatening the health of millions of Americans,” May Boeve of 350.org said in a statement.

Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senate Majority Leader, pointed out that New York had “the worst air quality of any major city in the world” on Wednesday. Walking there was like “walking on another planet”, he said Thursday.

“Climate change is making these disasters much more frequent, and more destructive,” he added, noting that temperatures “reached record highs in May in Canada. »