• USA Day turns night in US and Canada due to smoke from forest fires

The children of Washington did not go out to the playground during recess. The city's zoo was closed to the public. And, in the facility, a two-year-old gorilla had to be locked inside one of the buildings so that he would not breathe the air, described by the authorities as "extremely harmful", of the US capital. A capital in which it was enough to go out to the street to breathe what looked like smoke from a barbecue and in which asthmatics who had to go to work had become the best customers of Uber and its competitors Lyft and Empower because they had to go to work in a taxi to avoid discomfort and feeling of suffocation.

All that happened through the immense fires of the forests of the province of Quebec, 2,000 kilometers as the crow flies north of the US capital. Adapting it to European dimensions, it is as if the inhabitants of Madrid had to restrict their activities because of the fires in Warsaw (Poland) or Cairo (Egypt). The situation, with more than 400 fires, of which only a few are under control, is reaching apocalyptic dimensions, with dozens of flight cancellations, and the return of masks to the faces of pedestrians, as in the worst times of Covid-19.

Pollution has improved slightly in New York, which on Wednesday was the hardest-hit region. But today it has worsened in the south. The city of Philadelphia — roughly between New York and Washington — is in the worst condition. Within the scale of pollution used in the US, which goes from zero to 500, the "dangerous" level is reached at 300. Today, Washington is slightly below that figure. But on Tuesday, New York reached 400, making it the most polluted big city in the world. In total, about 50 million people in the U.S. and Canada live in regions with unhealthy or outright hazardous air due to fires.

The weather conditions and the march of the fires themselves make the US and Canadian authorities expect the crisis to last for several days, with its aftermath of respiratory diseases, suspension of outdoor activities – including sporting events – and flight cancellations. It is possible that next week the situation will improve, as the westerly wind carries pollution to the Atlantic Ocean, away from major American cities. Of course, that doesn't mean that the toxic cloud that obscures the sun will disappear, but only that it won't be visible. The environmental catastrophe will still be there, although far from the eyes - and noses and throats - of citizens and media reports.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has appealed for help from the United States, Mexico and the European Union. In fact, a good part of the air means that fight the fires in Quebec are American, and the president of that country, Joe Biden, has insisted that he will provide the necessary help to his northern ally.

  • United States
  • Canada

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