Canadian wildfire smoke reaches NYC and causes unhealthy air quality in "code red" territory.

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RollsRoyce15@reddit

in western canada right now and it’s pretty bad, was 11 on the canadian air quality system (the highest)

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It is not related to a collapse. It is natural and happens every year in the north. The winds changed this year and pushed it south. Down to the cities and suburbs and fake rural areas where a lot of fake people live fake lives. The real part is the amount of pm2.5 being released naturally exceeds 10 years of banning diesels by self entitled drama queens trying to save the planet. When their is a collapse, nobody in these fake areas will make it beyond 72 hours.

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meanderingdecline@reddit

I’m 60 miles south of NYC in New Jersey. Absolutely unreal the haze and horrible air quality. To add to the smoke from Canada there are wildfires burning in the Pine Barrens region of New Jersey. In the past week two major highways here have been closed due to wildfire smoke. The New Jersey Pine Barrens are ripe for a massive catastrophic wildfire with exurban development scattered throughout an ecosystem whose natural need for wildfire is being suppressed by humans due to development.

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No-Poem-5413@reddit

Im in NJ as well ( Camden County ) it’s really bad here. Lots of smoke and wood burning smell. Im confused California always has fires and it’s never this bad, so why is Canada’s fire so different to cause this ?

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Prairiegentleman@reddit

Also there is a lot more forest in Canada, about 60% of the second largest country on Earth is Boreal Forest. Fires are actually very normal and healthy for the Boreal but this year they've been supercharged by low rainfalls and high temperatures.

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leopoldrocks@reddit

It probably seems bad/worse because the most intense smoke has hit the most densely populated area of the US. Usually the most dense smoke dissipates quite a bit before major population centers are hit, so people don’t think anything of it. In reality, there is hazardous/fatal smoke not too far(relatively speaking).

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OneToughFemale@reddit

I'm in NJ too, right outside of Philly. It's awful here. I understand there is another fire burning in Jackson

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happydayz02@reddit

havent had a good rain in a while here in southern nj

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SpellboundInertia@reddit

NJ here too. It's been contained, thankfully, but we are at such high risk for another one. It's only a matter of time imo.

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aquavella@reddit

i guess this isn't normal for the east coast? we call that kind of AQ summer out here in the west

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HibiscusGrower@reddit

I live in Quebec in one of the areas affected by the fires. I lived here all my life and it's the worst fires we have ever had. Weather have been unusually warm and dry. The strong winds that carry the smoke to you guys are not helping with the fires too. I'm about 20 or 25 km south of one of the major fires and I'm worried we may get an evacuation order soon because of the smoke. Rural parts of my town just went on evac alert. I can hear the sound of the water bomber planes flying nonstop over my house. I hope we'll get rain soon but predictions don't look too promising.

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ArtisticEntertainer1@reddit

And I dreamed I saw the (water bomb) planes Riding shotgun in the sky Turning into butterflies above the nation  By the time (the evacuees) get to Woodstock They'll be half a million strong (and there won't be any) song or celebration

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whippedalcremie@reddit

The only time in the last decade there was widespread severe aqi like this was September 2020.

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High_its_Max@reddit

I’m from & currently in Philly but have lived on the west coast the past 7 years, never in my life did I expect to see/smell west coast level smoke in this area. This would be completely “normal” on the west coast but is almost unheard of out here

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a_dance_with_fire@reddit

Maybe this is normal for say California, but it’s not ‘normal’ for the rest of the west coast… at least not if you go back 5-7+ years. Sadly it has become normal as time moves on, and I suspect it’ll be the same on the east coast (and elsewhere with forests yet to burn)

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islet_deficiency@reddit

Very much an outlier event for the east coast. Experienced it many times in the west, but even then, typically late July into Aug and early September.

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captaindickfartman2@reddit

I WAS PROMISED NEON SIGNS EVERYWHERE. This dystopian nightmare is so boring.

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See_You_Space_Coyote@reddit

At least cyberpunk dystopias in movies are colorful. We don't even have that.

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ArtisticEntertainer1@reddit

I saw Cyberpunk Dystopia at Metal Fest

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GoneRewilding@reddit

Live the good life in the off-world colonies! To think, the people of Tibar were ahead of the curve all along.

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Visual_Ad_3840@reddit (OP)

It's even worse: Campfires WITHOUT smores :( /s

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Unrivaled_Master@reddit

I was in Manhattan yesterday and it was surreal, the entire island was like one giant cigar lounge. Buildings a block away were obscured by the haze. The worst part, to me at least, was when a random local heard us talking about it and stopped to ask if we knew why it was like this, a local wasn't even aware of what was happening around them.

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GoneRewilding@reddit

So you're saying that smoking is back on the menu?

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foolme_bear@reddit

what a great way to get them crawling out of their closed mindedness and disbelief that climate change is a real fuckin problem. just bust open their lifestyle and fuck up the air. people need to wake up, its not just "oh, we just have shorter winters now"

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throwawaylurker012@reddit

> The worst part, to me at least, was when a random local heard us talking about it and stopped to ask if we knew why it was like this, a local wasn't even aware of what was happening around them. Im sorry but a part of me wants to call this person a massive dumbass

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cassinonorth@reddit

> The worst part, to me at least, was when a random local heard us talking about it and stopped to ask if we knew why it was like this, a local wasn't even aware of what was happening around them. Local EMS is being slammed by people calling about the air. Some people just live under rocks.

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LilKaySigs@reddit

I’ve been on vacation in DC and Chicago and it’s unreal to see how far this smoke and haze is reaching. Those cities felt like Los Angeles with the amount of haze that was lingering around

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mahartma@reddit

Don't go out without a respirator and extra filters, that smoke will eff up your lungs good. You'll need some air scrubbers for your home, too. An old N95 corona mask should do for a quick trip to the 7-11 or something.

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QueerMommyDom@reddit

Here in Seattle we've been having to deal with this constantly for years. Maybe the wildfire smoke will motivate the east coast to help with prevention, but I doubt it.

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HibiscusGrower@reddit

I'm from one of the forest fire area in Quebec. Part of my town is in evacuation alert. I expect to be next.

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Alphatron1@reddit

I’m in Massachusetts so I’ve been dealing with this since last week. I checked the air quality map and there’s a bulb of dark purple over Pennsylvania/DC. AQI of 277. Yesterday it was 160 here and my eyes were getting a little watery can’t imagine what that’s like.

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glassFractals@reddit

283 here in western NY and getting worse. From living in California I know what’s to come at 300, 400, 500 and beyond. Not looking forward to it. Beyond mid 300s is when I would start to wear an N95 indoors.

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Alphatron1@reddit

I was expecting worse today but we’re at 98.

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LizWords@reddit

We just hit 220 here in the Albany area. Worse than yesterday.

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Tigre-Geant1@reddit

We just peaked past an AQI of 516 here in Ottawa, looks like it's going down but it's still 428. I'm light headed and staying home from work as I work in the trades.

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LizWords@reddit

Ugh, I can only imagine how shitty that air is.

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LizWords@reddit

277. Wow yeah, 185 was making me feel like shit yesterday. Can imagine 277. We’ve had haze for a week but yesterday was pretty wild (northeastern ny). My best friend moved to Oregon 15 years ago, and this is the sort of smoke she gets most years. I’ve never experienced anything like this here.

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Thana-Toast@reddit

What's not really been mentioned a lot, is that these will likely burn well into the Fall.

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MacaroniNonsense@reddit

https://i.imgur.com/M26QrTI.jpg East River about 2pm

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BurntFlower@reddit

Washington DC is also experiencing bad air quality due to the Canadian wildfire. I saw on the news we have a code orange alert today, and they're advising people with respiratory illnesses to stay inside.

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lightweight12@reddit

If you have any issues buy a HEPA Air filter if possible. A passable filter can also be made from a box fan and furnace filters for cheaper. There's plans on Yt.

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PandaBoyWonder@reddit

> A passable filter can also be made from a box fan and furnace filters for cheaper. There's plans on Yt. Thats a great idea

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dcooper8@reddit

How is air "inside" any better than outside? Isn't it the same air, unless you have a filtration system?

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PandaBoyWonder@reddit

The air inside is still, so some of the particles will stick to surfaces and cant be breathed in anymore. If your house is well sealed, new air wont come in from the outside (luckily the smoke makes the air colder so you dont need to use air conditioners) If you have a forced air furnace capable of running in circulation mode, you can filter the air a little bit by running that mode. Or, if you have a standing "air purifier" floor unit capable of filtering, that works too.

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BurntFlower@reddit

It's better to be inside if your home is well-insulated; as long as folks recirculate inside air vs. ingest outside, they can mitigate poor air quality indoors.

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SeattleCovfefe@reddit

Obviously, without filtration, *eventually* the indoor air quality would degrade to be the same as the outdoor air if the smoke event were to continue for days to weeks. But yes, if sealed off as best as possible the indoor air can remain quite a bit cleaner for quite awhile.

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whippedalcremie@reddit

Sealed in you're filtering out the air with your lungs :/ so it does help.

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TheCondor96@reddit

I literally struggled to walk across the street from my office to grab lunch today.

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judithishere@reddit

I know how rough this is. I live on the west coast, so this is every summer for us. If you are on the east coast, invest in filters to strap on to your box fans if you are using them. It does help to clean the air a bit inside. I have a few of those ready to go at all times, plus a couple air filter machines to run. If you have to be outside, an N95 mask helps.

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Visual_Ad_3840@reddit (OP)

Yes, i just bought a whole bunch of N95 masks, which I suspect will come in handy even AFTER this passes.

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dumnezero@reddit

It gets much more interesting: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm5611 >Large wildfires can produce ascending atmospheric plumes of such great intensity that they inject smoke and other combustion products into the stratosphere. Bernath et al. show that compounds transported into the stratosphere by the Black Summer Australian fires in 2019–2020 caused extreme perturbations in stratospheric gas composition that have the potential to destroy ozone. As climate change causes severe wildfires to become more frequent, their effects on the global ozone budget will grow. —HJS ... >These injected smoke particles have produced unexpected and extreme perturbations in stratospheric gases beyond any seen in the previous 15 years of measurements, including increases in formaldehyde, chlorine nitrate, chlorine monoxide, and hypochlorous acid and decreases in ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and hydrochloric acid. These perturbations in stratospheric composition have the potential to affect ozone chemistry in unexpected ways.

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throwawaylurker012@reddit

> Bernath et al. show that compounds transported into the stratosphere by the Black Summer Australian fires in 2019–2020 caused extreme perturbations in stratospheric gas composition that have the potential to destroy ozone. As climate change causes severe wildfires to become more frequent, their effects on the global ozone budget will grow. —HJS **JFC IT NEVER FUCKING ENDS**

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Flimsy-Selection-609@reddit

>climate change causes severe wildfires to become more frequent Only at the beginning

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Levyyz@reddit

Humans are ripping apart the biosphere with unprecedented ferocity, and there's no halting this momentum while we pretend things will stay the way they are.

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FunkleBurger@reddit

Wear masks and use high quality air filters where you sleep at least. I live in Canada and have 3 HEPA filters running in my house. The PPM 2.5 wildfire smoke particles are not processed by your lungs, so instead they become a near permanent obstruction, and may eventually move into your blood stream and attach themselves to arterial walls.

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Rotinequo@reddit

Its alright guys, corporations are striving for net zero carbon emmissions. We are in this together!

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Visual_Ad_3840@reddit (OP)

Totally! I wonder how the filtration system is in the billionaire bunkers?

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SpellboundInertia@reddit

Don't worry, everyone! My MIL told me this happens every so often, along with El Nino. The earth is meant to do this! I'm so glad she has figured it out for us. /s just in case.

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Visual_Ad_3840@reddit (OP)

I know- I tortured myself and read the comments in a NY Post article about the haze, and they were pretty much the same: Pure denialism! It was actually scary how crazy the rationalizations could be.

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wanderingxfae@reddit

Currently at an Air Quality of 185 In PA. I have all the windows closed but couldn't even finish a cigarette without getting lightheaded and I know this evening is going to be way worse.

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SinoKast@reddit

I just started watching Extrapolations on Apple TV then i saw this news and it's so very well done and likely accurate... though i think most of their dates will be earlier and of course WTF (worse than feared). Highly recommend watching this mini series.

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Stellarspace1234@reddit

I watched the entire series. Creating a prison on the Moon for people that have participated in ecocide is science fiction. The timeline is definitely off, and the ending is laughable. Someone created designs for a device that can reduce carbon emissions effectively to more than half of what’s in the atmosphere now, but doesn’t mention how long would the device have to be operational.

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SinoKast@reddit

Well then. Thanks for spoiling it for me. I'm only 2 in. =(

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Stellarspace1234@reddit

It’s okay. /r/Futurology says we’ll do away with global warming with innovation, and technology instead of making sacrifices, and reducing carbon emissions.

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dalleyrand@reddit

Go to www.airnow.gov to check air quality for any city in thy USA. Looks like Philadelphia has it the worst right now.

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tinytrees11@reddit

If you open the Interactive Map it shows Canada as well.

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islet_deficiency@reddit

https://fire.airnow.gov/

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dalleyrand@reddit

The entire east coast of North America is covered in ash. Mods of r/collapse: nO loCaL oBseRvaTioNs

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LizWords@reddit

I’m three hours north of the city and the smoke was so bad yesterday. I’ve never seen anything like it in this region. It smelled like a campfire and my eyes were burning. AQI was 185 yesterday afternoon and is about 160 right now at 7:30am the next day. The sky is dark and yellow and you can see the smoke just hanging everywhere.

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brunus76@reddit

“Everywhere smells like campfires” according to my 6yo a couple days ago in OH.

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j_mantuf@reddit

Cleveland area here. Two days ago it definitely smelled like a campfire. Different from the Alberta fires a few weeks ago where the smoke smelled like pine/cedar. Not as bad this morning, but skies are still white so we’ll see.

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BeansandCheeseRD@reddit

Also Cleveland area, went out on my balcony last night and the air smelled like smoke. Air quality is bad today, I woke up with a sore throat and cough.

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Valeriejoyow@reddit

Chicago has had moderate air quality. It's suggested that people who have health problems stay inside. I was coughing all weekend and still have a terrible headache. I can't imagine how bad it is for people around NY now. I wonder how much of the summer is going to be like this. We're in a bad drought now and actually got a fire warning on todays weather.

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Twisted_Cabbage@reddit

Some hopium for myself....that some of the CEOs in NYC start to wake the fuck up. I know, time to smoke some weed and come back to reality. The hopium is to strong a drug....

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BiologicalTrainWreck@reddit

Upstate NY here, air quality index reached "hazardous" this morning. I don't remember seeing anything like this before.

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Imaginary-Prize-9589@reddit

We had this in Wisconsin this past weekend. I was outside for 70 minutes just walking and got extremely exhausted, took a 5 hour nap on Sunday. Others were reporting sore throats, dizziness, exhaustion, and headaches. I had a headache on Sunday and Monday but it seems better here now. Be careful out there folks!

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AChromaticHeavn@reddit

NYC is also currently filled with homeless, much more than normal due to several busloads arriving from Texas. Smoke inhalation is likely up at the hospitals, and some people when they go to sleep, won't wake up.

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NoFrigginBroccoli@reddit

Central NY region here. This gives me the same feeling as playing Fallout 4 when one of those radioactive storms rolls in.

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Greedy_Painting_5095@reddit

Felt this in Connecticut it was absolutely horrible yesterday.

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Slight-Ad5043@reddit

If you fuck around you find out. We haven't found out yet, I'm down under when we burn hard we cool the Pacific ocean and cause la Nina, which causes so many unknowns. There's a lot of unknowns but your end now. We'll burn January 2024 if we're unlucky, Feb if we lucky then we're going to do it again. Sky was black and the sun was red

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plantmom363@reddit

This is scary. I woke up with a sore throat yesterday because I hadn’t seen the news and had all my windows open from 8am-6pm. All day I had a headache and sore eyes but thought it was allergies. Didn’t see the news until I finished work (I work from home). The smoke got so bad it looked like camp fire smoke in Brooklyn from 6:30pm onwards.

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Ramuh321@reddit

News this morning says being outside today is the equivalent of smoking cigarettes. That’s a new one for my area (OH). Never thought we would get this much wildfire smoke here. We had high level smoke from western fires before, but this is next level

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GoodDayMate_@reddit

Yep my family lives in Rockland which is about 20 mins from NYC. My grandma who is 85 says shes never seen anything like this

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walker4494@reddit

Fuckin' Canadians. This is provocation for WAR!

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Drops_of_dew@reddit

We are sorry!

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walker4494@reddit

Its ok. Hope youre safe there [heavy metal dick](https://imgur.com/a/oUmlCM3)

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NottaLottaOcelot@reddit

If you look at the NASA wildfire map, there are plenty of fires burning in the US as well.

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walker4494@reddit

Oh my GOD! WHAT SHOULD WE DO!?

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Melbonie@reddit

I'm in Western Massachusetts , the CT river valley, so everything just kind of sinks in here. It is brutal. The sky looks crazy, I can smell it and taste it. My lungs and eyes are burning, my nose won't stop running, terrible headache, sharp cough that won't quit and I had a really hard time sleeping last night. Now I have to go to work and pretend this is fine. I work on a college campus, it's a half-mile hike to my office, and basically by the time I recover from that, I'll have to hike back. Oh yeah, and I have about a dozen puffs left on my inhaler and no health insurance until July. Hope it will break soon, but I know this is reality now.

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