New Jersey
NJ had poor air quality, orange skies last June. Will wildfire smoke return in 2024?
4-minute read
2024 wildfire season forecast
Bad air quality and low visibility could once again be a concern as wildfires ramp up in the United States and Canada.
The first sign of trouble blew into New Jersey last year as a benign spectacle.
Smoke from raging wildfires in Canada lingered high in the atmosphere over the Garden State for a few days in late May, allowing for few stunning sunrises and sunsets in a grainy sky. Then, a few weeks later, wildfires erupted closer to the East Coast in Quebec, and a perfect set of weather conditions sent a record amount of smoke billowing into New Jersey for three days, creating a serious public health threat.
A year after the skies turned dark orange on June 6 and the noxious odor of burning wood wafted across the region for days, the threat of wildfire smoke remains due to the gradual warming of the planet, experts say.
Story continues after photo gallery
It threatens to turn back a lot of the progress made to clean the region’s air. It has emerged at a time when asthma rates are already on the rise and the number of senior citizens, who are more susceptible to developing chronic lung disease, is expected to explode in New Jersey over the next few years.
Despite the existential threat, there’s some good news — New Jersey will not likely see a smoky rerun of last summer, experts say.
How much of a danger it presents year to year is unknown since conditions have to be just right — not only for wildfires to ignite and linger as long as they did in Canada last year — but for the particular wind alignment to carry all that smoke into the region.
“The threat is going to be different every year because of changes in weather patterns,” said Greg Pope, a professor of earth and environmental studies at Montclair State University.
“There was a perfect circulation system that allowed all that smoke to come down here and that’s not going to happen all the time,” Pope said. “The issue is that the risk is increasing due to climate change and there’s no reason to believe there won’t be a continued threat.”
El Nino transitioning to La Nina
Wildfire season has not been as bad as last year — the worst in Canada’s history, with a record amount of acreage burned. But pockets of wildfires are still still erupting up north, prompting air quality alerts in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota last month. Several fires have ignited in Quebec and southern Ontario in recent weeks.
Helping matters is that the weather phenomenon El Nino is transitioning to La Nina — a cooling of the Pacific Ocean surface that generally brings more rain to North America in the summer.
Despite the forecasts, New York City health officials have already sent out a health advisory to hospitals and other medical providers with a quick overview of the threat wildfire smoke poses along with safety measures that should be taken by those with underlying lung diseases.
Have smoke will travel
Wildfire smoke is not new to New Jersey. The state has hundreds of wildfires each year, from the Highlands to the Pinelands. But unlike Canada or northern California, the amount of fuel that New Jersey forests provide is limited in the nation’s most densely-populated state. Combine that with robust local fire departments and the state forest fire service, and most wildfires are often brought under control quickly in New Jersey.
Still, the region has seen its sky grow hazy in recent summers, including 2020, due to smoke that traveled across the continent from large fires mostly in California. But the smoke from those fires was high in the atmosphere and did not pose a health risk — unlike the Canadian fires last year.
Although June 6 to 8, 2023 saw historically bad air quality in New Jersey with a never-before-seen concentration of small particles of burning wood, wildfire smoke continued to sweep into the region well into July. It was at lower levels, but still concentrated enough to cause health alerts for young children and the elderly.
Asthma-associated emergency department visits were 17% higher than normal among all age groups in the U.S. from April 30 to Aug. 4 last year at the height of the wildfire season, according to a study. Although data is limited for New Jersey, another study in New York showed emergency department visits for asthma doubled for all ages in some of the hardest-hit regions near Lake Ontario, and tripled among older children and young adults.
Cleaner fuels have improved air quality, reduced NJ deaths
The threat of wildfire smoke disrupts the steady progress that has been made cleaning up the region’s air.
Although smog remains a constant problem, especially in summer, microscopic particles that once inundated the air due to burning materials such as coal, diesel fuel and wood have dropped considerably. Cleaner energy generation and more efficient emission controls mandated by environmental laws have been credited along with such market forces as a glut of cheaper energy alternatives, including natural gas.
That, in turn, has caused deaths related to air pollution exposure to drop from 135,000 in 1990 to 71,000 in 2010, according to a 2018 study by the University of North Carolina.
“Our air is much better than it was, say, in the 90s,” said Kevin Stewart, director of Environmental Health for the American Lung Association. “The problem is you can see that being turned back by climate change. It’s undoing a lot of progress that’s been made.”
Meanwhile, Rutgers scientists have been studying the toxicity of the smoke from last year’s Canada wildfires and its long-term health implications.
Air monitors near the New Brunswick campus registered a high of 330 micrograms per cubic meter of particles — about 10 times above New Jersey’s air quality standard — over four hours on June 7 last year. It was the equivalent of breathing in secondhand cigarette smoke in a confined room.
Papers are scheduled to be published in journals over the next few months, and Rutgers will host a conference on the findings in the fall, said Philip Demokritou, director of the school’s Nanoscience and Advanced Materials Center.
“We wanted to find out the chemistry of the particles from those wildfires,” Demokritou said. “We also wanted to see what happens to those particles when they come into contact with pollution that’s already in the air.”
From Camden and Cherry Hill to Trenton and the Jersey Shore, what about life in New Jersey do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know.
In New Jersey, Mercer County officials have enacted new policies limiting the ability of federal immigration agents to access and use county property to conduct immigration enforcement operations.
Mercer County Executive Dan Benson issued an executive order and the Board of County Commissioners passed a resolution Friday that bans U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol from using any nonpublic area on county property to enforce immigration law, unless they have obtained a judicial warrant or judicial order.
“From Minneapolis to Delaney Hall, ICE has repeatedly shown a total disregard for the law and for the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens alike,” Benson said in a statement. “We respect the Federal Government’s authority to enforce immigration law, but we will not allow them to use County properties to harass our families.”
“With this resolution, we’re sending a clear message that everyone in our community can safely interact with County government, and access County services, without fear,” said Board of Commissioners Chair Terrance Stokes in a statement. “ICE’s actions threaten the fabric of our community, and we will take whatever steps we can, within the bounds of the law, to protect our residents.”
New Jersey and New York City commuters are facing extensive delays in and out of New York Penn Station Friday, with intensifying ripple effects, after an Amtrak work train car on one of the hub’s tracks caught fire.
The FDNY says it was called to the Midtown scene on 31st Street, between Seventh and Eighth avenues, around 1:30 a.m. Nearly 100 personnel responded. Five civilians were evaluated at the scene by EMS, officials say.
It’s not clear what sparked the fire involving Amtrak’s contractor maintenance vehicles in one of the Hudson River Tunnels. It was knocked down well before 6 a.m., but service on New Jersey Transit, Amtrak, Long Island Rail Road and more was expected to see heavy impacts well into the morning rush, with Hudson River trains operating at reduced capacity. Amtrak said it didn’t expect to lift its suspension until at least noon.
Travel Advisory: Due to unforeseen track and signal maintenance resulting from a now extinguished fire in the New York area, all services traveling south of New York (NYP) are temporarily suspended. This suspension is anticipated to be in place until noon at a minimum. Services…
— Amtrak Northeast (@AmtrakNECAlerts) May 29, 2026
New Jersey Transit and LIRR also announced delays and cancellations. Cross-honoring and diversion programs were in effect as the situation developed. Complete LIRR service at NY Penn had resumed by around 7 a.m., Friday said, though equipment issues were causing cancellations. Get the latest transit information here.
Video from outside Penn Station showed smoke billowing in the pre-dawn hours, as emergency personnel stood by with stretchers awaiting any potential victims.
Amtrak is investigating the cause of the fire.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this may cause,” the agency’s latest announcement said, pledging to provide updates as new information becomes available.
How are detainees at Delaney Hall being treated?
A statement issued by DHS said detainees receive comprehensive medical care and all are treated well.
“They are provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries. Illegal aliens also have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers. Certified dieticians evaluate meals,” the department wrote.
The release accused Sherrill, Booker and U.S. Sen Andy Kim, as well as U.S. Reps. Rob Menendez, Nellie Pou, LaMonica McIver, Frank Pallone and Analilia Majia, of continuing “to peddle falsehoods about ICE facilities,” and “spreading smears about ICE law enforcement and the Delaney Hall ICE facility in New Jersey.”
Sinha said the assertion that individuals being arrested and taken to Delaney Hall are dangerous criminals is false.
“This is an administration that has repeatedly lied to us about what’s going on in immigration enforcement and immigration detention facilities,” Sinha said.
He added while Sherrill does not have the legal authority to enter Delaney Hall unannounced, that fact that she was denied entry is concerning.
“The federal government has denied her repeatedly, and it makes you question, ‘What is the federal government trying to hide?’” he asked. “They have no allegiance to any rule of law or semblance of democracy; they’re trying to rewrite the Constitution for people who are noncitizens.”
On Thursday, Sherrill issued a statement saying the New Jersey Department of Health attempted to conduct a inspection of Delaney Hall, but officials were only allowed to inspect only a limited part of the facility.
“We will review and share the department’s findings from the limited portion it was allowed to inspect, and we will continue to pursue all appropriate avenues for demanding transparency and ensuring humane conditions for the individuals being held at the facility,” she said in the statement. “As I’ve said repeatedly, refusing to provide full access raises serious questions about what ICE is trying to hide from public view.”
Sinha said a hunger strike among those inside the facility is continuing because they are being given spoiled food and inadequate medical care in deplorable conditions.
“People shouldn’t have to starve themselves to make their dignity known; people shouldn’t have to starve themselves to have their rights protected, but that’s what’s happening here,” he said.
Reports of escalating violence
Late Thursday afternoon there were reports of violence escalating within Delaney Hall.
Nedia Morsy, the director of Make the Road New Jersey, an immigration advocacy group, issued a statement saying multiple sources within the facility reported ICE agents attacking detainees and causing serious injuries.
“Right now there are ICE agents inside of Delaney Hall violently beating the hunger strikers,” Morsy said in the statement. “Someone will be killed if no one intervenes and shuts this down. These masked agents are acting as if they’re above the law. This is a modern-day concentration camp, and history will not forgive silence in this moment. We need to shut down Delaney Hall and free everyone inside.”
Resistencia en Accion, another immigrant rights group, also released a statement, calling for violence against detainees to end.
“We express our utmost disgust with the violence perpetrated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents today, May 28. Reports at approximately 1:40 p.m. reveal that ICE agents attacked the hunger strikers inside with batons and tear gas. Family members outside received calls from inside, confirming that there were people screaming, and according to their loved ones inside, unconscious detainees and blood on surfaces. ICE is the sole responsible actor for the escalation that has led to several wounded people inside and outside this week,” the statement reads.
WHYY News reached out to DHS late Thursday seeking comment about the reports of violence at Delaney Hall. A written statement was emailed to WHYY that said ICE agents had responded to a physical altercation involving detainees.
“In accordance with established ICE policies and their training, staff used the minimum amount of force to safely deescalate the situation,” DHS wrote. “Following the incident, all affected detainees were promptly evaluated by on-site medical personnel and were cleared with no serious injuries.”
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