NYC air quality improves even as NJ wildfires continue burning
While an air quality alert was issued for the NYC area on Sunday, it expired at midnight and skies cleared Monday.
Air quality in New York improved Monday, one day after wildfires in New Jersey brought a smoky haze and campfire smell back to the five boroughs.
An air quality alert from the National Weather Service expired at midnight, and the air quality index returned to healthy levels. As of Monday morning, it was at 36 in New York, according to the city’s tracker. That was well within the “good” range.
Smoke from the New Jersey wildfires, at least one of which crossed the state border into New York’s Orange County, created subpar air quality in New York over the weekend. In addition to the National Weather Service, the state’s conservation department issued an advisory.
“Exposure can cause short-term health effects, such as irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and shortness of breath,” the department warned. “Exposure to elevated levels of fine particulate matter can also worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease.”
While the smoke cleared out due to rain and wind in the area, the wildfires throughout New Jersey continued burning. The largest, the Jennings Creek Fire, reached 3,000 acres and was only 10% contained as of Monday morning, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
That fire, burning in Passaic County, N.J., and Orange County, N.Y., killed an 18-year-old firefighter and member of the New York parks department, Dariel Vasquez.
Vasquez, a 2024 graduate of Ramapo High School, was battling the blaze near Greenwood Lake when a tree fell and killed him, authorities said.
But another fire in northern New Jersey was contained overnight, fire officials said. The Cannonball 3 Fire near Pompton Lakes reached 100% containment at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. It torched about 180 acres.
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