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WASHINGTON, D.C. – The smoke from the Canadian wildfires is impacting most of the northeast, including our nation’s capital.
When people visit the capital city they usually take in the sites but because of the smoke, some of the sites are hard spot.
This is video of the White House in the late afternoon on Wednesday. Usually that building and the Washington Monument right behind it are pretty noticeable but that haze is clouding some of viewing.
The EPA has this fire and smoke map. Most of the New England area is highlighted in red, which means poor quality. In DC, officials said the air quality is rated as ‘code red’ meaning it’s equivalent to being exposed to about seven cigarettes a day if someone was to be outside the whole time, according to research from Stanford University. The last time the region was in code red was back in 2011 according to local forecasters. They said these hazy conditions very rare and hazardous.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D- NY) took to the Senate floor discussing the harmful impacts from the Canadian wildfires. He said these wildfires are unprecedented and adds that we cannot ignore that climate change makes these disasters worse.
“Warmer temperatures and severe droughts mean forests burn faster, burn hotter, and burn bigger,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D- NY). “And the warming is happening at a faster pace in countries with higher latitudes. None of this – none of this – is coincidence. This smoke and fog over New York and the rest of the Northeast is a warning from nature that we have a lot of work to do to reverse the destruction of climate change.”
The EPA said exposure to the smoke could affect your lungs and hearts which may cause breathing problems, aggravate asthma and other pre-existing lung diseases. The EPA is encouraging people to refrain from strenuous outdoor activity.
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