Canada
Forest fires: Montreal has the worst air in the world
Smog over the Montreal skyline. Due to forest fires, the air quality in the metropolis is currently particularly bad. photo
© Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press/AP/dpa
Numerous fires have been burning in western and northeastern Canada for weeks. Smoke pollution is now so high that Montreal’s air quality is reaching negative records.
The forest fires that have been going on across Canada for weeks have temporarily made the metropolis of Montreal the city with the worst air quality in the world. According to the Swiss technology company IQAir, which monitors air quality worldwide, the city in the province of Quebec in eastern Canada had the highest air pollution in the world on Sunday – ahead of Johannesburg (South Africa) and Jakarta (Indonesia). The Canadian broadcaster CBC wrote that the environmental agency ECCC attributed the smoke in Montreal and the capital Ottawa to the numerous forest fires.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault tweeted that people at risk should stay indoors. Several sporting events and concerts were also canceled due to the smog. Public sports fields and swimming pools were closed, the city announced on Twitter. Images showed the Montreal skyline shrouded in gray smoke.
According to the Quebec regional government, around 80 wildfires were raging in the province. “The wildfire situation in northern Quebec remains of concern. We are closely monitoring the situation,” Legault wrote.
According to media reports, authorities in Canada’s capital Ottawa also warned of bad air. The air quality there corresponded to a “very high risk level”, according to CBC/Radio-Canada. Numerous fires have been raging in Canada’s west and now also in the north-east of the country for weeks, the smoke from which has already reached the north-east coast of the USA, above all New York.