Smoke from Canadian wildfires continued to shroud US cities in a noxious haze Thursday, forcing flight delays and cancellations to outdoor activities as environmental groups called for urgent action to tackle climate change.
Residents in the capital Washington awoke to an acrid smell and orange-tinged skies, with the Environmental Protection Agency rating parts of the mid-Atlantic region at "Code Maroon," the highest category of the Air Quality Index, signaling hazardous conditions.
This made some parts of the United States among the most polluted in the world, worse than cities in South Asia and China that normally dominate global rankings, with the situation not expected to improve until the weekend.
"Today's air quality is extremely unhealthy," tweeted Washington's Department of Energy & Environment, as the city advised residents to avoid exercising outdoors, keep windows shut and use high-caliber masks.
The White House postponed an outdoor Pride event, though a parade and festival this weekend remain on course now. The National Zoo meanwhile announced it would close "for the safety of our animals, our staff and our guests."
And the Washington Nationals, the capital's Major League Baseball team, announced it was postponing its afternoon game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Hemadri Vora, a 42-year-old tourist from Mumbai, was spending the day with her family in Washington after a visit to New York.
"It's a little disappointing," she said, though she was used to similar pollution levels back home. "Obviously, the pictures are not going to be very clear."
The Federal Aviation Administration meanwhile said low visibility had forced it to take steps to "manage the flow of traffic safely into New York City, DC, Philadelphia and Charlotte."
Environmental groups were quick to draw attention to climate change, which is creating warmer, drier conditions that are increasing the risk and extent of wildfires.
"This is the climate crisis, here and now, causing dangerous air pollution and threatening the health of millions of people," said May Boeve, Chief Executive of 350.org.
Her comments echoed UN chief Antonio Guterres, who tweeted: "With global temperatures on the rise, the need to urgently reduce wildfire risk is critical.
"We must make peace with nature. We cannot give up."
- 'Reminded me of 9/11' -
Officials handed out face coverings at train stations, bus depots and parks.
Linda Juliano, a 65-year-old secretary, gladly accepted one at Grand Central station in Midtown Manhattan.
"I've never seen anything like it," she told AFP, describing the sepia-tinged smog that engulfed New York on Wednesday as "scary."
"It reminded me a lot of 9/11, seeing the sky all smoky and everything," said Juliano, who kept the windows closed and the air conditioner on at her home in Huntington, Long Island.
Meanwhile in Canada, pollution from wildfires is expected to peak Thursday in Toronto, Environment Canada said.
With nearly 800,000 hectares (two million acres) affected, according to the Society for the Protection of Forests Against Fire (SOPFEU), Quebec is experiencing a historic season.
Twice as many blazes have been recorded this year compared to the average over the past ten years.
On Thursday, the French-speaking province still had more than 150 active fires, including nearly 90 out of control.
The situation remains worrying in several regions, explained Stephane Caron, of SOPFEU.
"We are only at the very beginning of this fire season. We are now entering the period when usually there are beginning to be larger fires in Quebec," he said.
The risk of a new outbreak is rated "extreme" by authorities in the western part of Quebec.
These blazes are of high intensity and spread rapidly, and are therefore very complex for firefighters to stop, officials say.
ia/bfm
© Agence France-Presse
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