The City of Akron has closed its two outdoor pools at Perkins Woods and Reservoir Park as of around 2 p.m. Thursday, a city spokesperson said, in response to heavy, pungent smoke from Canadian wildfires that made the air in Akron unsafe.
The Thursday evening concert scheduled for the Ed Davis Community Center at 7 p.m. was also canceled.
Air quality readings in Northeast Ohio dipped into the ‘very unhealthy’ range due to high levels of particulate matter — pollutant particles that can enter the lungs and cause health issues — from the smoke.
From the Great Lakes to parts of the East Coast, visibility for commuters was reduced and some outdoor activities were canceled or moved indoors as warnings about the air quality increased. The Ohio EPA issued an air quality advisory for the state on Thursday.
In Cleveland, Signal Cleveland reported that the city closed outdoor pools and extended hours at recreation centers on Thursday and Friday because of poor air quality.
The recreation centers are both cooling centers and “a place to seek relief from potentially dangerous environmental conditions,” a Cleveland city spokesperson said in a press release.
Playground programs and youth outdoor sports were also cancelled. Indoor pools at recreation centers will be open from noon to 7 p.m.
The American Heart Association also cautioned about the risk the wildfire smoke could potentially pose to cardiovascular health.
“While breathing problems and respiratory health dangers are often considered the biggest health impact from wildfire smoke, it’s important to recognize the impact on cardiovascular health, as well,” said Dr. Meera Kondapaneni, an interventional cardiologist with The MetroHealth System and board president of the American Heart Association’s Greater Cleveland division.
“Wildfire smoke contains a lot of pollutants including fine, microscopic particles linked to cardiovascular risk. As these fires continue to burn that contaminated smoke is traveling many miles beyond the immediately affected area.”
Detroit’s air quality was among the worst in the world for major cities, as a lingering high pressure system trapped smoke from dozens of fires in Canada and northern Minnesota and winds from the northwest blew it into Michigan, said Steven Freitag, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Pontiac, Michigan.
“Sure enough, it arrived in force here and it’s really pretty extreme levels,” said Freitag, who noted that visibility in some areas was reduced to a half mile.
Some other cities across the Great Lakes states also registered air quality ranging from unhealthy to hazardous. Fine particles in smoke are especially dangerous for children and people with health conditions such as asthma and heart disease.
In the New York City area, a thick, gloomy haze tinged the morning sky in orange-and-yellow, reducing visibility so dramatically that it partly obscured Manhattan’s prominent skyline.
City officials opened cooling centers as health officials urged New Yorkers to limit strenuous and prolonged outdoor activities and to stick to air-conditioned spaces as much as possible.
State officials distributed tens of thousands of face masks designed to filter out 95% of tiny airborne particles, including dust and smog, at the city’s Penn Station and Grand Central transit hubs and other major locations.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said public schools, parks and other city agencies were adjusting programming, moving activities indoors, rescheduling events and adjusting operations as air quality was expected to worsen as the day progressed.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a statewide air quality health advisory.
The agency said there was a potential for temporary spikes of “very unhealthy” air quality from Buffalo in the state’s western corner to Rochester by Lake Ontario, Syracuse in the central region, down to the greater New York City area.