Fire smoke from Canada poses a health hazard to the northeastern United States

according to CNN About 75 million Americans are affected by the unhealthy or dangerous air quality alert, from Boston on the East Coast to St. Louis in the middle of the country.

The threshold value for unhealthy air is 100 on a 500-point scale. In New York, the index reading in the afternoon local time was 332 – double the reading for Delhi and Lahore, according to a Swiss. IQAir.

One million respirators have been distributed

The pollution has led to delayed or canceled flights and the cancellation of outdoor activities in schools. Two baseball games, in New York and Philadelphia, were also cancelled.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has urged residents to only get outdoors if they have to, and the state will distribute 1 million N-95 respirators. New York times.

Although the smoke is heading west, the possibility of it reaching Sweden and Scandinavia is very slim.

– Smoke residue may be able to reach us so we can measure the presence of more particulate matter in the air. But I doubt you’ll ever see or feel the smoke, like in New York for example, says SVT meteorologist Jannicke Geitskaret.

Low number of firefighters

Canadian Health Minister Bill Blair said on Wednesday BBC 414 forest and land fires are raging in different parts of the country, of which 239 are out of control.

The province of Quebec in eastern Canada is among the hardest hit. There are 150 fires raging there, but nearly 500 firefighters can’t fight more than 40 fires at one time.

More than 20,000 residents have been forced to leave their homes, mainly in northern Quebec. So far, fires have consumed 3.8 million hectares in Canada, fifteen times more than normal for this time of year, he writes. CNN.