An air quality alert for Thursday covering Southeast Michigan has been issued because of smoke from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota, officials said.
The Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, or SEMCOG, said it has issued an Air Quality Alert of the season for Thursday, the third of the season.
The group cited elevated levels of fine particulate due to wildfire smoke recorded by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, or EGLE.
As of July 14, there are 800 active wildfires scattered across Canada, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, with several in Ontario, Canada, mainly in the southwest and southeast regions of the province.
“In terms of wildfire smoke, we have been fortunate so far in 2026,” EGLE said on its website earlier this week. “Unfortunately, our luck has run out as the fires north of the Minnesota arrowhead have rapidly expanded, overnight, and satellite imagery shows large areas of smoke headed our way.”
It said particulate levels are expected to be “Unhealthy” in Southeast Michigan on Thursday.
Officials predicted the levels could reach the “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” range for Southeast Michigan on Wednesday.
SEMCOG urges residents to take safety precautions to protect their health, including:
∎ Avoiding strenuous outdoor activities, especially those with heart disease and respiratory diseases like asthma, when possible;
∎ Monitoring for symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, dizziness, or burning in the nose, throat, and eyes;
∎ Keeping windows closed overnight to prevent smoke from getting indoors;
∎ Running central air conditioning systems with filters rated MERV-13 or higher;
∎ Reducing or eliminating activities that contribute to air pollution, such as outdoor burning and using residential wood-burning devices.
cramirez@detroitnews.com
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Air quality alert for Southeast Michigan issued for Thursday
Reporting by Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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By Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
