Flights delayed and millions told to stay indoors as smoke from Canadian wildfires engulfs US east coast
Thousands of flights have been delayed and baseball games postponed across the US east coast as smoke from Canadian wildfires continues to drift south, covering cities in a yellowy-brown haze.
Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the nation’s worst wildfire season ever.
Forest fires have scorched 9.4 million acres of the country and forced 120,000 people from their homes.
The country’s wildfire season has begun early on ground that is drier than normal and accelerated quickly – with smoke from the wildfires pouring into the US east coast and mid-west.
A wildfire in Barrington Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada. Pic: Nova Scotia Government via Reuters
The US National Weather Service has issued air quality alerts for almost the entire Atlantic seaboard.
Health officials from Vermont down to South Carolina, and as far west as Ohio and Kansas, have warned residents that spending time outdoors could cause breathing problems.
In Manhattan, a Home Depot store sold out of air purifiers and masks, while the number of face coverings in use recalled the height of the COVID pandemic.
New York’s famous skyline has lost its sharp edges, the air smelling like burning wood.
The US east coast is blanketed in a veil of smoke from the Canadian wildfires
In some areas, the air quality index, which measures major pollutants produced by fires, was well above 400, according to Airnow, which describes 100 as “unhealthy” and 300 as “hazardous”.
With weather systems expected to remain broadly static, the smoke, billowing down from Quebec and Nova Scotia, could persist into the weekend.
US National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said it will “probably be hanging around at least for the next few days”.
He added: “Since the fires are raging – they’re really large – they’re probably going to continue for weeks. But it’s really just going to be all about the wind shift.”
Residents have been wearing face masks to stay safe
British actress Jodie Comer was forced to stop a matinee performance on Broadway after she began coughing on stage only 10 minutes into her performance.
In baseball, the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies both postponed home games scheduled for Wednesday.
A National Women’s Soccer League match in Harrison, New Jersey, was also rescheduled, as was a WNBA women’s basketball game in Brooklyn.
It is not the time to “train for a marathon or do an outside event with your children”, advised New York Mayor Eric Adams.
“If you are older or have heart or breathing problems, you should remain inside.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the state was making a million N95 masks available at state facilities, including 400,000 in New York City.
The yellowy-brown haze could last into the weekend
In Washington DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered schools to cancel outdoor breaks, sports and field trips on Thursday.
In suburban Philadelphia, officials set up an emergency shelter so people living outside can take refuge from the haze.
Back in Manhattan, Tyrone Sylvester, 66, was playing chess in Manhattan’s Union Square as he has on most days for the last 30 years.
He was wearing a mask. “When the sun looks like that,” he said, pointing at its dulled outline through the smoky sky, “we know something’s wrong”.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
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Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
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In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Read more from Sky News:
Kate’s ’emotional’ words for tearful tennis star
Music festival cancelled as headliner pulls out
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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