“A Walk Is Like Ingesting a Pack of Cigarettes.” Northern Dutchess Air Beset by Wildfire Smoke

Haze and particulate matter have settled over our region, mostly from wildfires in New Jersey, but there are also several fires raging in the Catskills, and the combination of contaminants has raised the measure of harmful air to an alarming and dangerous level. 

The air quality sensor at the Red Hook Public Library showed a rating of 242 at 10:30 a.m. Sunday for PM 2.5. That size of particulate matter (2.5 microns) is particularly harmful to cardiovascular function. A score over 200 is considered risky to anyone with 24 hours of exposure.

PM 2.5 is especially dangerous to human health because contaminants of this size can bypass many of our body’s defenses, increasing the long-term risk of cancer, according to a great deal of research by the World Health Organization and more recently, by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.  

“Going for a walk here,” Chris Traverse of Rhinebeck, said, “is like smoking a full pack of cigarettes,” and unfortunately Traverse is correct. Supervisor for the Town of Red Hook, Robert McKeon, warned citizens to take the hazards to their health seriously. McKeon told The Daily Catch via text that “Wood smoke has 12 times the carcinogenic effect of cigarette smoke and the volume is obviously higher.”  

The Daily Catch meteorologist, Katie Whitaker, cautioned readers that there is an air quality alert in effect until midnight tonight “due to pollution staying at ground level from the high pressure in place as well as from the wildfires.”

McKeon added that locals should be especially careful about inadvertently starting a fire, for instance by not fully extinguishing a cigarette butt. While there have been no reports of wildfires on Sunday in Red Hook or Rhinebeck, yesterday the Red Hook, Tivoli, Milan, and Germantown Fire Departments put out a large brush fire at 110 Linden Avenue in the Town of Red Hook. McKeon cautioned area residents to not call 911 about fires just because they’re seeing smoke—which is unfortunately ubiquitous. He said area departments “Are encouraging folks to call only when they are able to document clear signs of a local incident.”  

As for the source of the smoke today, it’s not local, but regional. There are several wildfires burning across New York State. The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is coordinating the response to fires in Ulster, Sullivan, and Orange counties. 

The nearest, according to the DEC, is the Whitehouse Fire outside the Town of Neversink, which has consumed roughly 400 acres and is expected to grow, fanned by Friday’s and yesterday’s strong winds, along with continued winds out of the south. DEC Forest Rangers are coordinating the response. So far, 13 fire departments from Ulster and Sullivan counties have contributed more than 70 personnel, according to a release by Governor Kathy Hochul’s office.  

The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Conservation is also fighting two fires in Sterling Forest State Park in Orange County. 

Interactive data from the Environmental Systems Research Institute, which collates wildfire information from multiple sources ranging from the EPA to NASA, shows that the plume of smoke heading into our region is following the Hudson River—with smoke from multiple New Jersey fires compounding the smoke conditions and poor air quality. Whitaker said that we’ll continue to see winds from the south to southwest until Tuesday, when the winds will switch to the west and northwest. 

McKeon wants locals to be very cautious about fires while the Town of Red Hook is experiencing a fairly substantial drought. “The complete burn ban I put in place a couple of weeks ago remains in effect. A changing climate is progressing extreme weather patterns—we must take it seriously.”

The post “A Walk Is Like Ingesting a Pack of Cigarettes.” Northern Dutchess Air Beset by Wildfire Smoke first appeared on The Daily Catch.