Hochul said that a team of DEC Forest Rangers is deploying to assist with efforts to contain the wildfires raging in eastern Canada. The New York team will join firefighters from New Hampshire and Maine in Quebec.Īt her news conference, Hochul said, "We look to see weather improving over a few days.”īut, she added: “The message is, this is not over. The smoke billowing from the fires sent plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe. Millions of people across the United States and Canada endured a third day of the thick, hazardous haze. In a Canadian fire season that is just getting started but could well become the worst on record, more than 400 blazes - over a third of them in Quebec - burned Thursday. In wasn't just the New York region affected. “They will have inflammation of their airways and that will go away as the pollution goes away and it will heal,” he said. But whether or not the exposure can lead to permanent damage is unknown. People without underlying conditions might also experience chest tightness and a cough after breathing in the acrid smoke. Norman Edelman, a pulmonologist and core member of the Program in Public Health at Stony Brook University, said it's vital to remember that people with coronary artery disease are at an increased risk of having their chest pain get worse or having a heart attack due to the poor air quality. "Those individuals definitely need to limit exposure.”ĭr. “If you have any underlying illnesses, particularly respiratory or cardiac related, you are at higher risk,” Raio said. The smoky air could trigger asthma attacks and heart attacks in some vulnerable populations, health experts warned. Lenox Health Greenwich Village, a division of Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, treated 26 people for asthma on Wednesday, which is more than double its usual number, officials said. The rise was more significant in its New York City facilities. Northwell Health officials reported a “mild increase” in patients with respiratory illnesses at their emergency departments. "A lot of these cases are people who work outside like landscapers, people who work for the electric company, pool workers who have had prolonged exposure.” Christopher Raio, chief of emergency medicine at Catholic Health, which has six hospitals on Long Island. "We're definitely seeing a couple of cases come into each of our emergency departments," said Dr. Officials at hospital systems around Long Island said there were several cases, but no major uptick, in visits to hospital emergency rooms due to people sickened by exposure to the air. In parts of New York City, the air quality index numbers on Wednesday that came close to hitting the maximum number of 500 had not been seen since the 1960s, officials said.Īcting New York State Health Commissioner James McDonald said anyone who goes outside should wear a mask such as a KN95 or N95. Adelphi and Molloy universities suspended classes, joining at least two public school districts, Freeport and Long Beach.ĭepartures to LaGuardia were delayed an average of 54 minutes due to low visibility, the FAA said, adding that it would "take steps to manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte."įlightAware, a flight tracking service, said there were 58 delays within, into, or out of the United States Thursday morning at LaGuardia, along with 47 at Kennedy Airport and 30 at Newark International Airport. On Thursday on Long Island, health officials urged people to stay inside, while schools canceled sports and other outdoor activities. The smoke could clear out of the region Saturday or Sunday as the low-pressure system dissipates and redirects the winds southwest, John Cristantello, a lead meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Upton, said. It’s unclear when the smoke may completely leave the area and will depend just as much as the behavior of the fires, he said.
"Those with symptoms should consider consulting their personal physician.” “People who may be especially sensitive to the effects of elevated levels of pollutants include the very young, and those with preexisting respiratory problems such as asthma or heart disease," the DEC said. While an air quality alert was extended through midnight Friday by the state Department of Environmental Conservation, the DEC predicted a gradual improvement of the air on Long Island.
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