Authorities in New York, Toronto and Ottawa has warned residents about the health risks from air polluted by smoke from unprecedented early summer wildfires in eastern Canada.
According to Reuters, an unusually early and intense start to wildfire season has set Canada on track for its worst-ever year as warm and dry conditions are forecast to persist for months.
About 3.3 million hectares have already burned – some 13 times the 10-year average – and more than 120,000 people have been at least temporarily forced out of their homes.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on Tuesday night issued a health advisory for counties including New York, Bronx, and Queens.
The air over Toronto was also polluted and conditions could persist through most of this week, the government run weather agency said just as Canada’s Foreign Minister, Melanie Joly on Tuesday thanked United States, Mexico, South Africa and France for sending in firefighters to help.
The state recommended residents consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects.
The Canadian capital of Ottawa, which neighbors Quebec, was covered in haze on Tuesday morning, with air quality in category 10+, the worst level on Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index, indicating “very high risk”.
“Smoke plumes from local forest fires as well as forest fires in Quebec have resulted in deteriorated air quality,” Environment Canada said in an air quality alert for Ottawa.