Tens of millions under air quality alerts in US as Canada fire smoke drifts south | First Thing

Eastern US states including New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut issue alerts as hundreds of wildfires burn in Canada. Plus, can Trump’s once loyal deputy become his nemesis?

Good morning.

Tens of millions of people in the US were under air quality alerts on Wednesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, turning the sky in some of the country’s biggest cities a murky brown and saturating the air with harmful pollution.

How are New Yorkers coping? The whole city is immersed in a dystopian-looking smog: urban streets in sepia, emptier than usual, bathed in an eerie quiet. More were seen wearing face masks than usual these days, reminiscent of earlier days of the Covid-19 pandemic – and the feeling of potential doom the virus had induced.

What should we do to protect ourselves? Exposure to smoke can trigger an array of health problems, experts say, but there are ways residents can keep themselves safe. Staying inside and especially refraining from strenuous outdoor activity is an important way to limit exposure. Keeping indoor air clean by closing windows and doors is also helpful, as is turning on air purification devices when possible.

Are the fires still burning in Canada? Yes. Hundreds of wildfires are burning across Canada, many of them out of control, have blanketed cities in a thick haze of smoke, amid warnings from experts the situation will continue to worsen.

What else is happening? Greenhouse gas emissions have reached an all-time high, threatening to push the world into “unprecedented” levels of global heating, scientists have warned.

What did he say? Looking back to 2013, he said: “We trusted the government not to screw us. But they did. We trusted the tech companies not to take advantage of us. But they did. That is going to happen again, because that is the nature of power.”