Air quality: Noxious smoke eases over US but wildfires still major threat in Canada

Live racing will resume at Belmont Park on Friday following significant improvement in air quality conditions in the state, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced.

Both Belmont and Saratoga reopened for training Friday morning, and the 11-card race will start at 12:50pm. The NYRA said in a statement that it will actively monitor air quality conditions and forecasts to ensure the environment remains safe for racing participants and fans ahead of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

Racing at Belmont Park was canceled on Thursday due to poor air quality from wildfires in Canada.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul had warned that the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown, could be affected if conditions don’t improve by Saturday.

New York Racing Association vice president of communications Patrick McKenna said in a statement to The Associated Press on Thursday that state officials and the NYRA consulted on how to proceed going forward in “our shared efforts to provide the safest possible environment for training and racing thoroughbred horses.”

McKenna had said his group remained “optimistic that conditions will allow for the resumption of training and racing on Friday in advance of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.”

AP

The index rates how clean or polluted the air is each day. The EPA uses this measure to keep tabs on five kinds of air pollutants. The main concern from the wildfire smoke is fine particle pollution, or PM2.5.

These particles are tiny enough to get deep into the lungs. They can cause short-term problems like coughing and itchy eyes, and in the long run, can affect the lungs and heart.

The index runs from zero to 500. The higher the number, the worse the air quality. That range is broken down into six color-coded categories. Green or yellow — in the zero to 100 range — the air is pretty clear.

Once it gets up to orange, the air quality could be a concern for sensitive groups like kids, older adults or those with health conditions.

In the red and purple zones, the air quality is considered unhealthy for everyone. And once it gets to maroon — at 301 or above — pollution levels are hazardous.

AP

More than 420 wildfires have erupted across Canada from the province of British Columbia in the west to Nova Scotia in the east.

Roughly half of those fires are burning out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, and tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes.

Unlike previous years, this wildfire season got off to an extremely hot and dry start amid severe droughts across the country.

My colleague Ariana Baio has more.

Videos of South African firefighters arriving in Edmonton, Canada to bolster response to the country’s massive wildfires have gone viral.

Clips posted on social media in the last week have shown the 200-strong team of firefighters dancing and singing in the airport arrivals hall. “Bless every one of them,” read one response on Twitter. “I’m sorry we had to call, but so so grateful they answered.”

The George Washington Bridge vanished in the eerie orange haze caused by thick wildfire smoke in New York City on Wednesday.

CLAIM: A video of a helicopter dropping flames on treetops in Canada shows wildfires in the country are “a set up”.

THE FACTS: The footage shows firefighters conducting a planned burn last weekend on the Donnie Creek wildfire in northeastern British Columbia. The ignition was being used to help contain the fire by taking away fuel, not to spread it. Yet social media users misrepresented footage of the containment efforts to baselessly claim it shows that the fires were deliberately lit. A video shared on Instagram, TikTok and Twitter shows a yellow helicopter flying above a forest filled with smoke, as a helitorch suspended from the chopper emits flames. The next shot shows a forest ablaze. Text overlaid on the footage reads: “it was a set up.”

However, the footage was taken from a video shared by the British Columbia Wildfire service on June 4 on YouTube. In the video, members of the fire service explain how they are using “planned ignitions” to fight the Donnie Creek blaze. Mike Morrow, an ignition specialist with the service, says firefighters are stopping the conflagration from spreading by using planned burns to rob the fire of fuel. “We’re taking the fuels out on our terms rather than letting Mother Nature guide the project,” he says.

Sarah Budd, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, confirmed to the AP that the clip circulating online matches the video from the planned burn that took place last weekend, on June 1 and 2, on the Donnie Creek wildfire in northeastern British Columbia. “When the decision is made to conduct such a burn operation, the wildfire is usually beyond the initial attack stage,” Budd said in an email. “The goal is to remove the majority of available fuel ahead of the wildfire so there’s less fuel available for the wildfire to burn.” Similar videos of planned burns have been shared in the past to spread conspiracy theories during major wildfires or to discredit climate change.

The Associated Press