LISBON, New York (WWNY) – Air quality in Lisbon in St. Lawrence County hit “unhealthy” levels at around noon on Monday, according to airnow.gov.
In other parts of the county, as well as in Jefferson and Lewis counties, the air was considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups” during the day.
It’s not the first time this summer that smoke from Canadian wildfires has traveled into the north country. Health officials don’t think it’ll be the last time either.
“Wildfires in Canada are still ongoing and until they stop, the way that the air shifts, we could be dealing with different air quality for several months to come,” said Jolene Munger, director, St. Lawrence County Department of Public Health.
Dr. Frederic Seifer is a pulmonologist at Canton-Potsdam Hospital and says that due to the moderate and unhealthy air levels, the hospital is seeing exasperated patients with lung disease.
“I can tell you that the patients I do see here in my office, they’re telling me that on a bad day, they are struggling more than normal and I advise them to stay inside and if they have an air purifier to use it and if they go outside, definitely utilize an N-95 mask,” he said.
The air quality index uses a colored scale to advise whether the air is fine or if it’s dangerous to breathe. Orange means the air quality is considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups” such as people with heart or lung disease and older adults.
“Once it gets to orange, then that affects more of the general population and you shouldn’t stay outside as long. And then it is recommended to put a mask on, a well-fitting mask if you are going to be spending a lot of time outside because the mask will filter out the air particulates that can affect your health,” said Munger.
Both Munger and Seifer believe the words “air quality” will sometimes be part of our forecast for the next couple of months.
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