As some of the US’s biggest cities choked in a haze of bushfire smoke, sparking health fears and alarm for a devastating summer ahead, social media has also lit up.
New York and Detroit had the world’s worst air quality in the world on Wednesday, according to Swiss air quality tech company IQ Air, while it was serious enough in Philadelphia and Washington, DC for a “code red”.
Climate activist and Sunrise Movement executive director Varshini Prakash said New York looked “like it’s on fire”.
She said the smoke from hundreds of uncontrolled forest fires blazing across Canada, created a health risk “equivalent to breathing in smoke from cigarettes”. It was “absurd” the US government hadn’t declared a climate emergency, Ms Prakash said.
Wildfires are common in Canada’s western provinces, but this year flames have mushroomed rapidly in the country’s east, making it the worst-ever start to the season.
About 3.8 million hectares have already burned, some 15 times the 10-year average, Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said.
“Across the country as of today, there are 414 wildfires burning, 239 of which are determined to be out of control,” he told a briefing.
The giant eastern province of Quebec is among the worst affected.
“We’ve … seen continued impacts to critical infrastructure in Quebec such as roads and rural closures, telecommunication interruptions and high voltage power lines being threatened by the growing fires,” Blair said.
As flights were grounded and cities such as New York disappeared in a toxic haze, social media got busy.
“Where are my friends?” asked the Empire State Building’s Twitter account.
“Wasn’t me,” responded Mt St Helens, from the US west coast.
Tweet from @MtStHelensWA
Tweet from @EmpireStateBldg
“New York looks just like Blade Runner lol,” wrote one Twitter user.
“If we could see the soul of New York, this is what it would look like,” wrote another.
“If it doesn’t happen in New York, it doesn’t happen,” responded a third to people from California pointing out it had endured its own smoke hazards in other fire seasons.
Tweet from @fuckthefbi62993
More than a dozen US states were under air-quality alerts on Wednesday as smoke from Canada’s unprecedented wildfires wafted south.
An unusually early and intense start to wildfire season has set Canada on track for its worst-ever year of fire destruction, with warm and dry conditions expected to persist for months.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he spoke to US President Joe Biden by phone on Wednesday to thank him for “critical support” in tackling the blazes. Hundreds of US firefighters have already arrived in Canada and more are on their way, along with some from Australia.
“We’re seeing more and more of these fires because of climate change,” Mr Trudeau said in a statement on Twitter.
“These fires are affecting everyday routines, lives and livelihoods, and our air quality.”
Mr Trudeau said Canadians would have to reflect on “how we can equip ourselves to deal with this new reality”.
“We will be facing more and more extreme weather events that will cost us a lot more,” he said.
Tweet from @NWSNewYorkNY
Quebec Premier Francois Legault earlier said the province was able to fight 40 fires at the same time.
“But we have 150 fires so we have to make sure that we focus where the problems are the more urgent,” he said.
About 520 firefighters were battling the blazes with another 150 due to join soon from the army, Mr Legault said.
He said he hoped 500 more would arrive in the next few days from the neighbouring province of New Brunswick as well as France, Portugal, Spain and Mexico.
Residents of the towns of Chibougamau and Ouje-Bougoumou in northern Quebec received evacuation orders Tuesday night, becoming the latest group of people in the province to leave homes after thousands were forced out last week.
About 11,400 people had already been evacuated from remote parts of northern Quebec and another 4000 would be evacuated soon, Mr Legault said.
Deteriorating air quality has also been forecast this week in Canadian cities including Ottawa and Toronto due to smoke plumes.
-with AAP
