Air high quality in New York improved Monday, in the future after wildfires in New Jersey introduced a smoky haze and campfire scent again to the 5 boroughs.
An air high quality alert from the Nationwide Climate Service expired at midnight, and the air high quality index returned to wholesome ranges. As of Monday morning, it was at 36 in New York, in line with the town’s tracker. That was nicely inside the “good” vary.
Smoke from the New Jersey wildfires, a minimum of one in every of which crossed the state border into New York’s Orange County, created subpar air high quality in New York over the weekend. Along with the Nationwide Climate Service, the state’s conservation division issued an advisory.
“Exposure can cause short-term health effects, such as irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and shortness of breath,” the division warned. “Exposure to elevated levels of fine particulate matter can also worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease.”
New Jersey DEP by way of AP
Firefighters reply to a forest hearth in Evesham, N.J. final week. (New Jersey DEP by way of AP)
Whereas the smoke cleared out because of rain and wind within the space, the wildfires all through New Jersey continued burning. The biggest, the Jennings Creek Fireplace, reached 3,000 acres and was solely 10% contained as of Monday morning, in line with the New Jersey Forest Fireplace Service.
That fireplace, burning in Passaic County, N.J., and Orange County, N.Y., killed an 18-year-old firefighter and member of the New York parks division, Dariel Vasquez.
Vasquez, a 2024 graduate of Ramapo Excessive College, was battling the blaze close to Greenwood Lake when a tree fell and killed him, authorities stated.
However one other hearth in northern New Jersey was contained in a single day, hearth officers stated. The Cannonball 3 Fireplace close to Pompton Lakes reached 100% containment at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. It torched about 180 acres.
Initially Revealed: November 11, 2024 at 10:56 AM EST
