Arrival of wildfire smoke spurs air quality alert across northern Indiana

By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw

WARSAW — On top of 90-degree temperatures today, the region is also dealing with wildfire smoke from Ontario, Canada and northern Minnesota.

The smoke was expected to move into the area overnight and is the reason for an air quality alert issued for today for Kosciusko County and areas to the north.

 The smoke brings with it fine particulate matter that is expected to create unhealthy conditions as well as increased ozone levels that can affect some people.

Officials predict you’ll actually be able to smell the smoke today and if you’re driving you’re encouraged to use your car’s air recirculation button to reduce smoke exposure from the outside air.

Warnings about unhealthy air conditions Wednesday extended from Minnesota through Toronto and into New York. Unusually hot summer temperatures were expected, too.

The best advice is to stay indoors to avoid both the smoke and the extreme heat, said Tyler Hasenstein, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen, Minnesota.

“Those two things coinciding with each other is not good from a health perspective,” he said.

The Associated Press reports that thousands of visitors were told to evacuate a remote Minnesota wilderness area accessible only by boat as wildfires send dangerously heavy smoke over the U.S. Midwest and Northeast this week.

More than 100 wildfires are burning in Canada, where a train crew in northern Ontario filmed themselves surrounded by flames before being safely evacuated. Winds are carrying the smoke southeast.

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