National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Taylor said the current weather pattern in the central and eastern U.S. But later in the day, Mistissini Chief Michael Petawabano said his community remains safe and asked residents to wait for instructions from Cree officials.Įastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense. The largest town in Northern Quebec - Chibougamau, population about 7,500 - was evacuated Tuesday, and Legault said the roughly 4,000 residents of the northern Cree town of Mistissini would likely have to leave Wednesday. governors and local officials about providing assistance, she said.Ĭanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that he spoke by phone with Biden and "thanked him for all the help Americans are providing as we continue to fight these devastating wildfires." His administration has contacted some U.S. In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. Quebec Premier Franois Legault said the province currently has the capacity to fight about 40 fires - and the usual reinforcements from other provinces have been strained by conflagrations in Nova Scotia and elsewhere.Ĭanadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre spokesperson Jennifer Kamau said more than 950 firefighters and other personnel have arrived from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and more are due soon. "I put my mask away for over a year, and now I'm putting on my mask since yesterday," the 31-year-old lamented. A level of 50 or under is considered good anything over 300 is considered "hazardous," when even healthy people are advised to curtail outdoor physical activity. Environmental Protection Agency metric for air pollution, exceeded a staggering 400 at times in Syracuse, New York City and Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. The smoke, he later said by phone, even made him a bit dizzy.ĪIR QUALITY TRACKER: Check the levels for air quality near you Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, which was enveloped in an amber pall. Massive tongues of unhealthy air extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people. Air with hazardous levels of pollution extended into the New York metropolitan area, central New York state and parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. East Coast and Midwest on Wednesday, covering the capitals of both nations in an unhealthy haze, holding up flights at major airports, postponing Major League Baseball games and prompting people to fish out pandemic-era face masks.Ĭanadian officials asked other countries for additional help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people. Smoke from Canadian wildfires poured into the U.S. as smoke from wildfires in the Canadian province of Quebec decended on the Northeast in a thick, choking haze. Air quality alerts are in effect for much of the U.S.
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