Airborne toxic event descends on city

All of New York City was enveloped in smoke that billowed down from hundreds of Canadian wildfires in an unprecedented Wednesday

By Brian Braiker

Brooklyn Heights Promenade (Photo by David Doobinin)

Brooklyn, like all of New York, was enveloped in a smoky, sepia haze all day Wednesday, the result of smoke billowing south from Canadian wildfires into the U.S. East Coast and Midwest.

The air tasted like sour campfire, the streets felt like a set from another “Blade Runner” remake. Eyes burned and throats chafed. BRIC canceled their Celebrate Brooklyn! opening night. Deno’s Wonder Wheel closed early. After school activities were canceled across the city. Proms were postponed.

The interior of photographer Jeremy Cohen’s apartment (Photo by Jeremy Cohen)

The air quality index, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency metric for air pollution, approached a staggering 500 today, a number we all just learned is very bad indeed (anything over 300 is deemed “hazardous”). Air quality in the city was worse than it has been in 50 years, officials are saying. The worst in the world, even. Masks came out of storage.

The view from Brooklyn Heights (Photo by David Doobinin)

Here are a few images from an eerie day in the borough, which felt both like an anomaly and a harbinger of climate crises to come. There was an electricity to the air, if you went outside. Giddiness at witnessing history, mixed with a tinge of fear. It will blow over soon they tell us. For now.

But at least alternate side parking is suspended Thursday.

The Verrazano Bridge from Bay Ridge, courtesy of my mother. pic.twitter.com/mIjdzwVuXD

— allison sells tanghulu in hell (@rockcelery) June 7, 2023

No filter . Sepia summer . Look like we went back in time here in Brooklyn (bed-stuy) pic.twitter.com/OgMeTk3y1I

— Antoine Hardy (@Slangdini) June 7, 2023