Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By: EFE Posted 05 Jul 2023, 18:08 pm EDT
The fireworks of the night of July 4, one of the most anticipated festive moments of the year in New York, polluted the skies of the Big Apple much as the fires in Canada had done weeks before.
The Gothamist.com news portal points out that a group of students from New York University (NYU) collected 3,300 micrograms of polluting particles per cubic meter of air last night, when from 500 micrograms it is considered exceeded the level of “extremely dangerous”.
Several NYU volunteers went out to measure the air around midnight and concentrated on the areas where the fireworks were going off, There are several in the city, although the best known for their volume (60,000 rockets), their duration (25 minutes) and their spectacular nature are those launched by the Macy’s department store in the East River, between Manhattan and Long Island City.
The smoke from the thousands of artifacts completely filled the skies over the East River, unable to see one bank from the other, and even when they gradually cleared, the air remained stale for hours over a wide area along the river in both directions.
But in addition, the rockets and smaller collections of pyrotechnics continue to go off throughout the city for hours.
At 1 a.m. on Thursday, the air quality index measured by this equipment was at level 434, when from 301 the level is considered risky and it usually motivates calls to citizens to stay inside their homes by medical services.
An NYU professor quoted by the portal pointed out that a major factor in the harmfulness of fireworks is the use of colors, since a high concentration of metals is needed to achieve the green, red, and blue colors in the rocket lights. .
Some cities in the United States opted yesterday for light shows -using the possibilities offered by drones-, but in New York the drones were simply incorporated into the show as an introductionThe highlight being the gigantic collection shot from five barges located in the middle of the river.
Keep reading:
– Smoke from fires in Canada affect cities like Washington DC and Chicago again
– Smoke from forest fires: learning to live with poor air quality
– Canadian city of Montreal covered in smog by forest fires
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