SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The city of Springfield issued its own advisory, due to the air quality alert issued by the National Weather Service the past couple of days.
That advisory from the Department of Health and Human Services is set to expire at 7:30 Thursday morning. Locals say they’ve never seen anything like this before in our area and they’re concerned.
Western Massachusetts native Alex King, showing 22News the images of his neighborhood in New York City, one of the hardest hit areas. King showing us city streets, in a haze of orange, “I’m not used to the smell of smoke, and its just constant smell of smoke.”
“I wore a mask throughout work just for like almost comfort of not breathing it in, almost like to shield me from the smoke, and the smoke smell,” King says. “It’s like a whole new way of wearing a masks now.”
Back home in western Massachusetts, communities not spared from the smoke, causing an air quality alert to be issued statewide. The city of Springfield issuing its own warning to residents.
MassDEP categorized the city of Springfield’s air quality as “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” including lung disease, and asthma. The city is considered one of the most challenging places to live in the U.S. with that condition.
Paul Nedwick of Springfield, telling 22News, “I have heart disease. Typically I wouldn’t react to this but I do have something to think about now, I definitely think its a concern.”
People in these sensitive groups are advised not to be outdoors for long periods of time, and keep medication on hand. In the mean time, people continue to keep their eyes to the sky, in hopes this smoke will quite literally blow over soon.
And if you are pregnant, the CDC says this vulnerable group should take extra care to protect themselves against wildfire smoke.
