NEW YORK — New York National Guard soldiers handed N95 respirators to commuters at Penn Station on July 16 as Canadian wildfire smoke turned the city’s sky yellow-orange and pushed particle pollution to its highest level in more than three years.
The soldiers, assigned to the Guard’s Joint Task Force Empire Shield, joined a broader state and city response that placed masks at transit hubs and public facilities across the five boroughs. A New York National Guard account of the distribution said members already stationed at transportation hubs provided masks at the governor’s direction as smoke from fires in Canada and Minnesota degraded the city’s air.
New York City’s Air Quality Index reached 289 at 10 p.m. on July 16, according to New York City Emergency Management’s report on the episode. That placed the air in the “Very Unhealthy” category, in which health effects become a concern for everyone—not only people with existing medical vulnerabilities.
The five-day event was the city’s second-most severe wildfire-smoke episode in the modern record. Only the June 2023 emergency was worse, when smoke from Quebec wildfires produced the thick orange haze that became one of the defining images of that summer and drove the city’s AQI as high as 465, a “Hazardous” reading.
This time, the smoke arrived during an active heat emergency. City agencies had to direct residents toward cooled indoor spaces while also trying to keep smoke from entering those spaces. Cooling centers remained open, outdoor programs were moved or rescheduled, and health officials encouraged residents to reduce prolonged or strenuous activity outside.
The city said the July plume came from more than 100 wildfires burning across western and northwestern Ontario. Smoke reached the five boroughs on July 15, shrouding landmarks including the Statue of Liberty and One World Trade Center. By the following evening, the AQI had crossed 200 and continued climbing into the night.
Governor Kathy Hochul had announced ahead of the peak that more than 100,000 N95-style masks would be available to counties across New York. The state identified Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal as distribution points for commuters.
New York City also made free masks available through public-library branches, NYPD precincts and FDNY division firehouses. The combined response put respiratory protection in locations residents could reach during an ordinary commute or neighborhood trip rather than requiring them to visit a specialized emergency center.
The masks were intended to reduce exposure to PM2.5, the fine-particle component of wildfire smoke. These particles are small enough to travel deep into the lungs and can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, cause coughing or shortness of breath, and aggravate asthma, chronic lung disease and cardiovascular conditions.
Children, older adults, pregnant people and those with heart or lung disease face greater risks, but a Very Unhealthy AQI indicates that the general population may also experience health effects. Outdoor workers and people who cannot avoid commuting may accumulate more exposure because they remain outside for longer periods.
Respirator type and fit matter. The Environmental Protection Agency’s wildfire-smoke guidance says a NIOSH-approved N95 respirator can remove more than 95 percent of particles in the PM2.5 size range when it is worn properly. The respirator must fit closely over the nose, around the face and under the chin without gaps.
Loose surgical masks, single-strap paper masks, bandanas and ordinary cloth face coverings provide substantially less protection against wildfire particles. KN95 respirators may offer more protection than loose-fitting face coverings, but fit, construction and product quality can vary.
Even a well-fitted respirator is only one layer of protection. Remaining indoors with windows closed, using recirculated air, running an appropriately sized portable air cleaner and postponing strenuous outdoor activity can reduce exposure more effectively than masking alone. Because the smoke coincided with extreme heat, residents also had to balance cleaner indoor air with access to safe cooling.
Conditions began improving on July 17 before worsening temporarily the next morning. Rain later helped clear remaining particles, and the AQI had returned to 78—within the “Moderate” category—by July 19, when the city closed its active response.
The fires themselves, however, had not ended. City emergency officials said smoke could return while large fires continued burning in Ontario, making air-quality monitoring part of the summer routine even after New York’s skyline reappeared.
The July emergency did not reproduce the extraordinary darkness of the 2023 orange haze, but it showed that the earlier event was not an isolated respiratory-health crisis. Three years later, masks were back at transit hubs, outdoor plans were again being rewritten around the AQI and smoke originating hundreds of miles away was shaping how millions of New Yorkers moved through the day.
