10million Americans told not to leave their homes TODAY as toxic chemicals sparks air quality emergency
Officials in New York City have issued an air quality alert telling more than 10million Americans to stay inside due to wildfire smoke.
A fire in neighboring New Jersey has burned through more than 15,000 acres since Tuesday when it erupted in Ocean County, near the shoreline.
The fire is about 54 miles south of NYC and roughly 50 percent contained. Fire crews may not be able to fully contain the blaze until rain falls this weekend.
Smoke billowing across state lines is filled with toxic chemicals and fine particles that can worsen asthma, lead to heart attacks and may increase the risk of developing cancer and dementia.
New York's Department of Environmental Conservation and the Department of Health issued an Air Quality Health Advisory for fine particulate matter from 12am to 11:59pm Thursday.
These particles, also known as PM2.5, are tiny airborne particles with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.
The advisory covers the New York City Metro area, including all five boroughs, Westchester and Rockland counties, as well as Long Island.
When inhaled, these particles burrow deep inside the lungs and can cause serious health problems.
What's more, wildfire smoke is known to contain cancer-causing chemicals called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which cause genetic mutations that allow tumors to form.
National Weather Service (NWS) officials warn that New York City's outdoor air quality levels could be greater than an Air Quality Index (AQI) value of 100 today due to the presence of fine particulates.
The AQI measures the amount of pollutants and particulates in the air on a scale of zero (good) to 500 (hazardous).
An AQI of 100 is considered 'moderate,' but may be unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as children, the elderly and people with pre-existing lung and heart conditions.
The general population can expect some eye, nose and throat irritation, coughing, sneezing and shortness of breath if they spend too much time outdoors.
'When pollution levels are elevated, the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects,' the NWS alert reads.
So far, no one has been injured or killed in the blaze, but a commercial building and some vehicles were destroyed, and 12 structures remained threatened Wednesday evening, according to the Associated Press (AP).
'This is still a very active fire,' said New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette.
'As we continue to get this under full control the expectation is that the number of acres will grow and will grow in a place that is unpopulated.'
Investigation by law enforcement and forest fire officials determined that he cause of the fire was an improperly extinguished bonfire, and was deemed to be 'incendiary.'
On Wednesday, officials charged Joseph Kling, 19, of Waretown with Aggravated Arson and Arson in connection with a wildfire that started in Waretown Tuesday and continued to spread throughout the southern Ocean County area, according to a statement from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
'At approximately 9:45am ET Tuesday, the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower located a column of smoke coming from the area of Jones Road and Bryant Road in Ocean Township,'
'Upon arrival, emergency personnel observed a fire within the Ocean County Natural Lands Trust's Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area, which is on the east side of Jones Road.'
Further investigation revealed that Kling set wooden pallets ablaze, then left the area without extinguishing the bonfire.
Investigation by law enforcement and forest fire officials determined that he cause of the fire was an improperly extinguished bonfire, and was deemed to be 'incendiary'
'Kling was taken into custody at Ocean Township (Waretown) Police Headquarters; he was thereafter transported to the Ocean County Jail, where he is presently lodged pending a detention hearing,' the statement reads.
A total of 5,000 New Jerseyans were forced to evacuate, but are now allowed to return home.
The fire was likely fueled by dry conditions typical for New Jersey this time of year. The region is currently in peak wildfire season, as trees are still developing leaves, humidity remains low and winds can kick up, drying out the forest floor.
But the affected area had also been experiencing a severe drought until recently, which likely exacerbated the dry conditions.
In 2025, New Jersey has already experienced nearly twice as many wildfires as it did in the same period last year, with 662 fires consuming over 16,500 acres, according to Bill Donnelly, the chief of the forest fire service.
Officials say the Jones Road fire is the worst in nearly two decades, smaller only than a 2007 blaze that burned 26 square miles.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
NI Health: Patients spending over a week in emergency departments
Conditions in emergency departments (EDs) are "soul destroying", a senior consultant has said after it was revealed that one patient waited more than 330 hours inside a figures, obtained by BBC News NI, show that in a seven-month period to January this year, one patient waited two weeks at the Ulster Hospital, while another waited 11 days at the Mater in Clodagh Corrigan, deputy chair of the British Medical Association in Northern Ireland, said conditions in EDs for staff and patients were "horrific".In a statement, the Department of Health (DoH) acknowledged that waiting times in EDs "fall well below the standard of care that we strive to provide". Hundreds stuck in hospitals across NI The DoH target is for 95% of patients to be treated, discharged or admitted within four hours and no patient to wait longer than 12 Corrigan, who is an emergency medicine consultant, has called on the department to spend its money more effectively.A Freedom of Information request from BBC News NI revealed that every health trust in Northern Ireland experienced patient waits of about week or Northern Health Trust said a wait of more than 10 days for a patient in Antrim Area Hospital was because they needed to be isolated in a side room for other people's safety."If there's space, it's taken up by somebody," said Dr added that patients who might be vomiting or suffering from diarrhoea were queuing for the one toilet available in a unit."It's a soul-destroying work environment. You can't give the care you want to give," she said."You certainly aren't giving the care you're trained to give. It's not the care you'd want your family to receive."There are currently hundreds of people stuck in hospitals across Northern Ireland who are medically fit to be discharged but do not have a care package or an appropriate facility to go BMA said this increases pressure in EDs because people are not moving through the hospital system. The BBC requested data from all five health trusts under Freedom of Information, including that relating to the height of the winter pressures over Christmas and New reflect the immense pressure healthcare staff were under at the time, with one nursing leader describing conditions as "intolerable".Between 12 December 2024 and 20 January this year, 140 patients had to wait in crowded EDs for more than 100 Altnagelvin Area Hospital, one person spent a week in its ED. The hospital recorded the highest number of patients waiting the longest times, with 48 people waiting for more than 100 hours. Dr Corrigan said the BMA was calling for greater investment in the health service and multi-year budgets."The money that exists needs to be used better. There's been an awful lot of investment in a lot of new initiatives... and while we welcome some of those initiatives, we're not seeing the pressures easing from them," she said."It might be better investing in the services that are already here and shaping them better."In a statement, the Department of Health said Health Minister Mike Nesbitt was "acutely aware of the pressures within emergency departments"."The department also recognises the risk of possible harm to patients who experience long waiting times in ED and is working with trusts to improve patient flow through urgent and emergency care," it were still major waits for patients in EDs this week, with patients at Craigavon Area Hospital waiting an average of 15 hours to be seen on Monday.
NBC News
6 hours ago
- NBC News
Rural communities brace for Medicaid cuts in Republicans' big bill
HERMANN, Mo. — Like many Americans, Cierra Matthews doesn't have time to pay close attention to the flood of policy changes and announcements coming out of Washington, D.C. So when the single mom of two boys heard that her Medicaid benefits could be impacted because Republicans are proposing changes to the social safety net program, she was shocked. Members of Congress, Matthews said, are 'covered no matter what, so they don't have to worry about it. So how is that fair to just take it away from somebody that does have to worry about it because of finances or because of a job?' 'I don't think it's fair that they don't care enough to think about that, and that they get to live in that happy little bubble of theirs,' she told NBC News in an interview on Friday. Matthews lives in a rural community 90 minutes west of St. Louis, where she works in the public school system and falls below the poverty line. She is one of 72 million Americans that relies on Medicaid for her health care, and before Missouri voted to expand Medicaid access in 2020, she was uninsured. She said that Medicaid saved her life: Matthews received a mental health diagnosis and is on medication that her sons said transformed their mom into a different person. Provider tax crackdown As part of a sweeping domestic policy bill, Republicans proposed adding work requirements for 'able-bodied' adults aged 19-64 with exceptions, including for those with dependents under 14, like Matthews. But GOP lawmakers have also included provisions in their so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill' to crackdown on the health care provider tax that states charge health care providers to help fund Medicaid, particularly in rural areas. Under the new proposal, the federal government would limit reimbursement to states, with some conservatives citing 'abuse' of the program by undocumented migrants in blue states. A cap or freeze on that fee would cost rural hospitals, like the Hermann Area District Hospital, billions of dollars in funding, according to providers, physicians, hospital associations and even some Republican lawmakers. That includes Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who argued the provision would 'defund' rural hospitals. Dr. Michael Rothermich, the chief of staff at the Hermann hospital, said they are already treading water with current funding levels. 'We've had to make a lot of tough choices, a lot of cutbacks. We've had to freeze salaries. The saddest for me was that we had to let go of our home health agency,' a service that helped rehabilitate people in the remote area, Rothermich told NBC News. With the steeper cuts proposed by Republicans, Rothermich said there is no more room to trim. 'There's no magic money that pops up from someplace else or falls out of the sky to help us do our job. … We provide services to patients and we need to be reimbursed for those services so that we can take care of the next patient and we can buy the next medicine and we can buy the next piece of equipment,' said Rothermich. The hospital has just three full-time physicians on staff to service patients in two counties, where one in four rely on Medicaid. 'There are fewer and fewer people to take care of it, and fewer and fewer resources to try and do what we need to do to take care of people,' Rothermich said. In southern Missouri, Karen White, the administrator for Missouri Highlands Health Care, said the new provisions could mean they need to prioritize which patients to care for. 'I think we will see loss of life, maybe not immediate, but if chronic conditions go untreated for an extended period of time, it does result in lower quality of life, less people working,' White said. 'We've lost three hospitals in the last 10 years in our region, and that has left Missouri Highlands as the only form of health care.' Missouri Highlands is a federally qualified health center, or FQHC — a community-based health care provider that relies on federal funding to operate. White said 46% of the population there is on Medicaid, and Missouri Highlands is the only health care provider in a 3-4 hour radius. Republicans pitch a rural hospital fund To help address the shortfall that Republicans are creating as part of their bill to fund President Donald Trump's campaign promises, Senate leaders are working on a separate fund that would go directly to rural hospitals. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told NBC News on Tuesday that in response to 'a number of concerns our colleagues had mentioned' about their rural constituents, they are 'making good headway' on a solution. One such proposal landed on Wednesday from members of the Senate Finance Committee, the panel with jurisdiction over Medicaid, to funnel $15 billion to rural health care providers. But multiple Republican senators, including Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Hawley, feared it wasn't enough. 'I don't think that solves the entire problem,' Collins told reporters on Wednesday. 'Any money is helpful, but no, it is not adequate.' The American Hospital Association, a group that lobbies on behalf of the industry, estimates that rural hospitals would lose $50 billion over the next decade if the GOP's crackdown of the provider tax went into effect. And an analysis from the Urban Institute found that hospitals overall could lose upwards of $300 billion as a result of the provision. Tillis circulated a document to his Senate colleagues on Monday that illustrates the potential impact to rural healthcare providers in Republican states. In North Carolina, Tillis argued 600,000 people could lose access to health care as a result of Republicans' changes to Medicaid, and warned the party they could face losses in the 2026 midterm elections reminiscent of Democrats' defeats in 2014 after a rocky Obamacare rollout. Matthews told NBC News that because of this issue, she partially regrets her vote in the 2024 presidential election, especially given the administration's push to realize these cuts. 'Why does somebody else get to make those choices for you? Why is somebody else in charge of [Medicaid]? For you? I don't think it's fair,' she said. And White said she doesn't understand why Republicans are committing 'political suicide' by including these provisions in their signature piece of legislation. 'It does seem a little odd that the folks that elected [Republicans] will be the ones that are impacted the most with these cuts,' White said.
NBC News
6 hours ago
- NBC News
Nestle says it will remove artificial dyes from US foods by 2026
Nestle said Wednesday it will eliminate artificial colors from its U.S. food and beverages by the middle of 2026. It's the latest big food company making that pledge. Last week, Kraft Heinz and General Mills said they would remove artificial dyes from their U.S. products by 2027. General Mills also said it plans to remove artificial dyes from its U.S. cereals and from all foods served in K-12 schools by the middle of 2026. The move has broad support. About two-thirds of Americans favor restricting or reformulating processed foods to remove ingredients like added sugar or dyes, according to an AP-NORC poll. Both California and West Virginia have recently banned artificial dyes in foods served in schools. On Sunday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas signed a bill requiring foods made with artificial dyes or additives to contain a new safety label starting in 2027. The label would say they contain ingredients 'not recommended for human consumption' in Australia, Canada, the European Union or the U.K. The federal government is also stepping up its scrutiny of artificial colors. In January, days before President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. regulators banned the dye called Red 3 from the nation's food supply, nearly 35 years after it was barred from cosmetics because of potential cancer risk. In April, Trump's Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said the agency would take steps to eliminate synthetic dyes by the end of 2026, largely by relying on voluntary efforts from the food industry. Nestle has pledged to remove artificial dyes before. Early in 2015, the company said it would remove artificial flavors and colors from its products by the end of that year. But the promise didn't hold. Nestle said Wednesday it's been removing synthetic dyes from its products over the last decade, and 90% of its U.S. portfolio doesn't contain them. Among those that do is Nesquik Banana Strawberry milk, which is made with Red 3. Nestle said Wednesday it wants to evolve with its U.S. customers' changing nutritional needs and preferences. 'Serving and delighting people is at the heart of everything we do and every decision that we make,' Nestle's U.S. CEO Marty Thompson said in a statement.
