Delaware poor air quality alert until midnight Friday linked to Canadian wildfires

Vulnerable populations in Delaware, including children, older people, and those with asthma, heart disease, and lung disease, are advised to avoid outdoor activities.

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Denver, Colorado

File photo: Smoke from wildfires in Nova Scotia impacted air quaity in downtown Denver, as seen on Saturday, May 20, 2023. Smoke from the same wildfires is now impacting air quality in the Greater Philadelphia region. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

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Delaware is under an air quality alert until midnight Friday due to smoke from wildfires in Nova Scotia traveling south to the northeastern United States. A similar alert in Philadelphia ended at midnight on Thursday.

The wildfire in the Canadian province is the largest on record, and is part of an unusual trend where the fire season is occurring earlier than normal. As of Thursday morning, more than 50% of the fire was contained. However, it’s possible for the flames to spread because of hot weather.

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Wildfire season in New Jersey is also expanding. Officials in Burlington County are currently battling a major wildfire in the Bass State Forest.

Vulnerable populations in Delaware, including children, older people, and those with asthma, heart disease, and lung disease, are advised to avoid outdoor activities. Remaining in a building with filtered air conditioning can reduce exposure.

Tiny particulates in the smoke can make it difficult to breathe and exacerbate heart problems, especially for people who already suffer from poor respiratory and cardiovascular health.

“When we have particularly high air pollution days as we’re having currently, what you really want to be thinking about are reducing acute exposures that would induce things like asthma attacks and other respiratory and cardiovascular events,” said Dr. Jane Clougherty, a professor of environmental and occupational health at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health.

Limiting children’s activities is particularly important, she said, because they may be less cognizant of poor air quality.

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Climate change is expected to increase the number of wildfires, and that could intensify these types of pollution events, Clougherty said.

“Normally, this early in the season, conditions [in Canada] are much wetter and cooler, and we don’t see large scale wildfire events. We are seeing across the U.S. and Canada much larger wildfires much earlier in the season,” she said.

“And in addition, with climate change, we will be seeing more photochemical activity creating ozone in the air that we breathe, and higher temperatures as well, which exacerbates the effect of air pollution exposure.”

Clougherty warns the health impacts of climate change won’t be evenly distributed.

“Those neighborhoods that have less green space will be hotter. In neighborhoods where people have less access to medical care, less access to air conditioning … Those communities will bear more of the brunt of increased temperatures and pollution,” she said.

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