'Never seen before': Broome County officials urge residents to stay indoors

Broome County officials are urging residents to stay indoors and, if they must go outdoors, to mask up as southward-moving smoke continues to affect much of New York.

The county activated its emergency operations center at noon Wednesday, Broome County executive Jason Garnar said, and has established clean air centers at the Broome County Library and the Greater Binghamton Transportation Center.

"We are definitely witnessing a generational event in Broome County as we continue to deal with air quality issues from the Canadian wildfires," Garnar said. "Given these conditions, it is highly recommended that people remain indoors as much as possible."

What precautions are being taken

Many school districts throughout the area have postponed outdoor activities, Garnar said, and students are being kept indoors during lunch and recess. Masks are also being supplied.

During the pandemic, the Broome County Health Department purchased High Efficiency Particulate Air Filters, which were offered up to Broome County schools. Garnar says they are being advised to use them during this time.

As for county employees, non-essential outdoors employees are being kept inside and essential outdoors employees are being provided with N95 masks and other necessary PPE.

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Additionally, the closure of the Broome County parks has been extended through Thursday and En-Joie Golf Course in Endwell is also closed all day Thursday as well.

"This is something that we've never seen before," Garnar said. "We're learning about it as we go along as well and what we're really doing is following recommendations that experts have made based on the levels of air quality at the state and federal level."

When will this end?

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Albany has extended an Air Quality Health Advisory through midnight Thursday.

"Conditions we're experiencing in Broome County is dependent both on fire behavior as well as winds," Broome County Director of the Office of Emergency Services, Patrick Dewing, said Wednesday. "Dense smoke will continue to plague our area for the remainder of today."

Closings and cancelations: Smoke in the air brings recess, sports, zoos to a halt in Southern Tier

In speaking with surrounding counties, Dewing says while they are experiencing similar conditions, Broome County is specifically getting hit a bit harder.

Dewing also said it takes about 12-18 hours for the smoke from the Canadian wildfires to reach Broome County, depending on wind conditions. A wind shift should divert the next area of denser smoke to the west tomorrow but smoke conditions will still be present.

And the smoke may return on Friday as winds shift again, according to Dewing.

Who this affects

Lourdes and UHS are reporting an uptick in patients coming in with respiratory issues, according to Garnar.

"The levels we were at yesterday were actually for people with breathing issues," Broome County Director of Environmental Health, Josh Phelps, said. "What we're seeing today is levels high enough where normal people that don't have those issues might actually start to receive things like an asthma attack, have difficulty breathing, might have irritation of your eyes, ears, nose, mouth."

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The emergency operations center will be open from 8-4 p.m. for the remainder of the week and the clean air centers will be open during their regular hours of operation: Broome County Public Library 9 a.m.-8 p.m. and the Greater Binghamton Transportation Center 6 a.m.-10 p.m.

"We highly recommend that if you have activities or events outside your home, plan that you reschedule them, if possible," Garnar said. "We also recommend that anyone from the public that must go outside while we're at this current hazardous level wear masks and protect yourselves."

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This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Broome residents urged to wear masks outside, stay indoors Wednesday