New York shrouded in orange smoke - 14th June 2023

Upwards of 100 million people received air quality alerts in the US last week, thought to be sparked by devastating wildfires ravaging the province of Quebec, Canada. Winds spread the pollution southwards across a vast swathe of the US, cloaking densely populated urban areas such as New York, Chicago and Washington DC in orange-coloured smoke.

Reaching as far south as Atlanta, Georgia, the pall of thick smoke blanketed the sun and obscured many of the nation's celebrated landmarks, as New Yorker Jack Wright comments.

Jack Wright: "You can't even see the Statue of Liberty today and usually it's bright and clear."

For foreign visitors such as Nicha, from Thailand, the lack of visibility was a source of dismay.

Nicha Suaittiyanon: "I'm trying to like get lots of pictures as much as I can, but as you can see, when I took pictures I cannot see like the building even. I can't even see like the bridge in the pictures."

A Code Red alert was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, warning the public that the Air Quality Index was deemed dangerously severe, with concomitant health implications. The smoke and minute airborne particulates can be detrimental to people's breathing. Although most individuals will get over brief periods of exposure, people with respiratory and bronchial problems, as well as those with grave illnesses, are more vulnerable.

Jack Wright has also been impacted by the toxic atmospheric conditions in New York.

Jack Wright: "It's generated a kind of a cough all day long. I haven't, I quit smoking 50 years ago, but it's kind of a cough that I would have when I smoked."

Some, like Charmaine Franco, took precautionary measures when braving the outdoors.

Charmaine Franco: "You know, it's a bit cloudy, makes my eyes water, you know. As I had to bring her out today, you know, we had to make sure to keep our masks on because of the air quality, to make sure that, you know, we are okay. But you can't stay out here for too long, but you have to do what you have to do, so you have to get back inside."

Even as the orangey smog began to disperse, the odour of burning lingered across the city, which was apparently far more of a nuisance for Nicha than local resident Pamela Roderick.

Nicha Suaittiyanon: "I smell kind of like someone's like doing barbecue or like all the time and then my eyes got watery and like itchy all the time yesterday, so the all, the whole evening was, for me, kind of like smoking, like smelling smoking and then my eyes are itchy."

Pamela Roderick: "So no, it doesn't bother me. I mean, you know, New York often smells kind of strange."