Air Quality Alert Extended into Tuesday in Centre County

More than half of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, including Centre County, will be under an air quality alert again on Tuesday as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to impact the commonwealth.

The state Department of Environmental Protection issued a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day for 34 counties. Code Orange means an air quality index between 100 and 150, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups. Young children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems, such as asthma, emphysema and bronchitis, are especially vulnerable to the effects of air pollution in the orange range and should limit outdoor activities, according to the DEP.

In addition to the State College area, the Code Orange will be in effect on Tuesday for the Philadelphia area (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties), Lehigh Valley-Berks area (Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties), Susquehanna Valley (Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area (Lackawanna and Luzerne counties), the Williamsport area (Lycoming County) and the counties of Bradford, Susquehanna, Sullivan, Wayne, Wyoming, Pike, Monroe, Carbon, Schuykill, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Tioga, Union, and Snyder.

Smoke from wildfires in western Canada is expected to contribute to higher concentrations of fine particulate matter, which can be made up of hundreds of different chemical pollutants.

Concentrations could reach the Code Red level — meaning unhealthy for pollution levels for everyone — for a few hours overnight and in the early morning. Smoke levels are expected to decrease later in the day and into the middle and latter parts of the week, according to the DEP.

On Air Quality Action Days, residents and businesses also are encouraged to voluntarily help reduce fine particulate matter air pollution by avoiding the open burning of leaves, trash and other materials, and avoiding the use of gas-powered lawn and garden equipment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Air Quality Index uses standardized color codes for forecasting and reporting air quality. Green indicates good air quality; yellow is moderate air quality; orange means unhealthy pollution levels for sensitive groups; red indicates unhealthy pollution levels for all; purple means very unhealthy; and maroon means hazardous.

All of Pennsylvania was under a Code Orange alert on Monday, and Centre County moved into the red range during the day with an Air Quality Index of 153, according to AirNow.gov.

This week will mark the third time this summer that smoke from the wildfires has moved through Pennsylvania and caused unhealthy air quality.

On June 7, the entire state was under a Code Red alert and air quality remained at unhealthy levels for several days as a result of wildfires in eastern Canada, forcing the cancelation of events in Centre County such as the Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games and a State College Spikes game.

Code Red alerts again were issued at the end of June.

More than 900 active fires are burning in Canada and a record 23 million acres has burned in the country since late spring. Thousands of firefighters from other countries, including the United States, have been deployed to aid Canadian personnel in battling the blazes, which have largely been caused by lightning strikes and accidental human activities following an exceptionally dry winter and spring.