Update on Air Quality From Canadian Wildfires

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

 Yes, we're in a very serious health situation right now in the State of New York. The smoke from the Canadian wildfires that covered the state yesterday, they're going to continue blanketing the state all day today. This is bad news for every New Yorker. There'll be great impacts, and I'm going to say many places in the state will be considered very unhealthy to be outdoors.

Let me repeat, very unhealthy to be exposed to this temperature, not just for sensitive groups. And the greatest impacts will be in the western and southern part of our state, and we're all going to see and smell smoke. It looks fine here in Albany right now, but it's going to change, and I want to explain this. We talked about our history with this. I remember back in 2023 when we had the wildfires up in Quebec, asthma-related emergency department visits increased by 82 percent, so we're expecting a spike. We're talking to the hospital emergency rooms about preparedness for this. We're also — want to make sure people know the signs.

If you're experiencing shortness of breath or chest pains in yourself or someone else, seek immediate attention. If this is from the heat and you can't escape it, I would encourage people to go — don't just go home and go to bed — go to a doctor, go to a hospital, because your life could be on the line. This is very dangerous, and to stay safe, we want you to monitor the real-time air quality index at AirNow.gov. Many people have it on their phone as well.

And as I'm going to say this over and over between now and tomorrow, if there's any way you can possibly stay indoors, please do not venture out.Shorter dog walking. Please keep the babies inside. Senior citizens, just hold on and stay home for another day and a half. Exercise is really not a smart thing to be doing when this is — this smoke is going to fill your lungs. It's very dangerous, and people with heart or breathing problems, older adults, children, teens, pregnant women, pretty much everybody. And if people who work outdoors, and we're, creating some flexibility here with our state workforce, we encourage the employers to make sure that if your employees do not have to be outdoors just today and tomorrow, let's get through this, let's be smart. We encourage you to let them stay indoors.

And if you have to go out, bring out a mask. Find a good fitting mask and make sure not to overexert yourself. And also all the summer camps that are out there, and the day schools and the childcare providers, asking them to be very vigilant about suspending outdoor activities. This is not a time to take all the little kids to the park. And also, check on your loved ones and neighbors. And if it's not good for us, the air's not quality, it's not good for an individual, it's not good for your pets either. So they — don't let them breathe in the same air. We're also expecting some relief this weekend, so stay informed over the next few days.

Real-time weather and emergency alerts you can find out more by texting 333111. And I will tell you what we're seeing. All of New York is going to see and smell smoke today and tomorrow. There'll be times when it reaches the purple — a very unhealthy range. And as I said, please be smart about this. The forecasted smoke will be worse in Western New York, Central New York, Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley, Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island. There's not a whole lot that's out of that category. That's pretty much statewide. And it'll be unhealthy in the Capital Region, North Country, Finger Lakes, and unhealthy for sensitive groups.

So I don't know if that really matters. This is a day, just stay indoors. Just stay indoors, be smart about this, be vigilant. And so what we're doing to help, we're making N95 masks available across the state to any county that requested them. In New York City, MTA and Port Authority has made masks available to commuters at Penn Station, Grand Central, Times Square, Jamaica and the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Our National Guard is involved. They're stationed across the five boroughs to help distribute masks as well. Upstate, we'll have staff at rest areas along the thruway with masks for New Yorkers as well. Any other ideas, we're open to them. We want to make sure that, number one, be smart — being smart means staying indoors. If you have to be outdoors or you're one of the sensitive groups please take advantage of our mask distributions or contact us, and we'll make sure you get it. Let's be smart, New Yorkers.