Riverhead Town Parks closed due to thick haze from Canadian wildfires
Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar closed all Town Parks Wednesday and Thursday due a thick haze of smoke from Canadian wildfires affecting the northeast.
“We are monitoring the situation,” Ms. Aguiar said in a phone interview Wednesday evening. “I have the police chief monitoring all the advisories.”
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for our area both Wednesday and Thursday.
As of Wednesday evening, the air quality index for Mattituck was at 233. According to AirNow, home of the U.S. Air Quality Index, “the higher the AQI value, the greater the level of air pollution and the greater the health concern.”
“When AQI values are above 100, air quality is unhealthy: at first for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as AQI values get higher,” the website says.
The pollutant of concern is fine particulate matter. Fine particles can travel deep into the respiratory tract and reach the lungs.
Peconic Bay Medical Center pulmonologist Dr. Rajeev Patel said common symptoms to look out for include headaches, irritated eyes, sinuses, difficulty breathing chest pain, irritated throat, coughing and fatigue.
He recommends spending as little time outside as possible as exposure can also worsen medical conditions such as asthma or heart disease.
“If you have to be out there for an extended period of time, it’s advisable to wear a high-quality mask, like an N95, K95,” he said.
According to Dr. Patel, some of the most vulnerable populations to be affected by this are pediatric-aged children and adolescents. Adults can also be heavily affected — the most affected would be those suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, emphysema, asthma, and lung fibrosis, people with heart conditions and those with compromised immune systems.
Dr. Patel recommended avoiding any strenuous activity outdoors, as well. As the weather gets warmer, he also recommended running the air conditioner rather than opening the windows to stay cool, and recommended following the air quality index closely.
Nelson Vaz, a warning coordination meteorologist from the National Weather Service, said that while it’s hard to predict how long this haze will last, we can expect for it to be in our area until at least the weekend thanks to a “stalled low pressure system.”
“What’s happening is around that, you have counterclockwise circulation,” he said. “The winds are transporting the smoke from the wildfires especially from western Quebec down into the Ohio valley, into New York, Pennsylvania and right into our area.”
He said there are two factors that will determine how long this haze stays in our area.
“Do we see any type of pattern change to move the smoke out of the area, and also how do the wildfires evolve,” he said.
