Community Chat

[Snowpuppy]

I'm in Northern MI and the air quality alerts are out again today.

I waited uhtil dusk last night to get gas and the smokey haze looked like a blanket of fog.

[deepwaterdotter]

We are wearing masks when going outside in Wisconsin.  Guess it's a good thing I have a box on hand.

[ValuSkr]

@Patriot3   Thank you, that's a good website.  (AirNow.gov)

[Ladybug724]

It smells like burning plastic or something like chemicals, but it doesn't smell like wood burning. Air quality here is at the Very Unhealthy status, unsafe for all, not just sensitive groups. 

Again, it doesn't smell like burning wood. Smells like burning plastic or some kind of chemical. A lot of people are saying that.

[Kachina624]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

It won't be getting any better in the coming years. You can expect to see more smokey skies from forest fires going forward. The climate is changing. More fires and more floods.

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@SilleeMee    Exactly.  There are 300 wildfires burning in Canada.  It can take 2-3 months to extinguish one big fire.  We'll continue to get smoke when the wind direction brings it in, off and on, for months, probably until the snow flies in the North.

As @SilleeMee  says, it may be an on-going seasonal problem.

[SilleeMee]

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@Ladybug724 wrote:

It smells like burning plastic or something like chemicals, but it doesn't smell like wood burning. Air quality here is at the Very Unhealthy status, unsafe for all, not just sensitive groups. 

Again, it doesn't smell like burning wood. Smells like burning plastic or some kind of chemical. A lot of people are saying that.

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I was wondering the same thing so I googled it and found this. It doesn't look good.

"Why does the wildfire smoke smell like burning plastic?"

"The VOC's (volatile organic compounds) from the wildfire smoke interacts with the UV radiation to create benzene and formaldehyde compounds in the atmosphere. These are toxic air pollutants that can have very adverse effects on human and animal health – and they happen to smell like burning plastic."

@Ladybug724 

[chlema]

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@walker wrote:

Same here in the Chicago area.  These problems from Canadian wildfires have been ongoing for awhile for different areas of USA.  When it first happened over the eastern states I thought...wow, that is bad...what a shame..now we are living it here.  I don't stay out for long.  Hopefully, it will pass soon....if not, it might ruin a lot of July 4th plans. 🇺🇸

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I was watching the Phillies/Cubs game last night and wondered why it looked so foggy.  After the game (sorry, go Phils!) they asked one of the outfielders if it was a problem, he said, yes, at first, then you get used to it.  I imagine the smoke will once again reach us in north Delaware.

[Puppy Lips]

Taking a pre planned trip to Ohio this weekend. We are driving from FL.  Hope all that smoke and haze are gone soon.

[SilleeMee]

Wearing masks can do some good but the real hazardous compounds (volatile organic compounds) emitted from smoke in the air passes right through most masks. Firefighters wear special masks which filter out VOCs.

[RetRN]

It has been very bad in many places. I have noticed it gets much more coverage when the east coast is involved. In other areas it tends to be brushed over. I guess when the wealthy elite are involved it matters more. 

When places like NYC or DC are in the thick of things the coverage is never-ending. Not so much when the south, southwest, or midwest are suffering.