Smoke from Canada’s wildfires has led to the worst air quality on record in New York.

Tech giant Google is now asking its employees in New York and elsewhere on the US east coast to work from home. He writes CNBC.

The reason is that smoke from wildfires in Canada has spread to the United States and created poor air quality.

In Canada, Google employees in the cities of Toronto and Waterloo also received the message.

Local authorities in New York have also asked residents to stay home as much as possible.

Record poor air quality

Wildfires in Canada have led to the worst air quality on record in New York.

The US Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA, has been recording air quality since 1999. On Wednesday, large amounts of fine dust from forest fires contributed to the air quality index at New York reaches 413, writes New York Times.

That’s more than twice as bad as Tuesday’s peak. The index does not exceed 500. If the number is above 100, this often leads to health warnings for children, the elderly and others in risk groups. Values ​​above 300 are considered harmful to everyone.

The worst of all is what is said CBS in Philadelphia, where the index was at 447 Thursday evening.

Historic wildfire season

Experts warn Canada could face its worst wildfire season in history. 20,000 people were displaced by 400 forest fires.

In Quebec alone, there were more than 150 active forest fires on Tuesday. The French-speaking province has requested international help to deal with the numerous fires. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke by phone Wednesday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and promised to send additional aid.

In the center of the Canadian capital, Ottawa, smoke was so thick Wednesday that high-rise buildings were barely visible across the Ottawa River.

More bad news is that the weather system contributing to the heavy smoke coverage isn’t expected to move much. So it will probably stay at least until Friday, maybe even longer.