Southwestern Pennsylvania residents woke to smoke on Friday, as Allegheny County warned residents to avoid outdoor activities and the City of Pittsburgh closed pools and nixed movies and events.
The smoke stems largely from wildfires in Ontario and Minnesota. The Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow map shows high levels of pollutants in the region.
On Thursday, the county Health Department issued a Code Maroon air quality alert — the most severe level — after concentrations of tiny PM2.5 particles reached hazardous levels.
The department recommended that people stay inside to the extent possible. People particularly sensitive to air quality — potentially including those with asthma, bronchitis, emphysema or other lung diseases — should stay indoors and “keep activity levels low,” the county cautioned. So should children, teens and older adults.
County Executive Sara Innamorato said this means it’s hazardous for everyone, not just sensitive groups, to be outside Friday. But there is hope for relief on Saturday, she said, with rain in the forecast. “Hopefully this heavy smoke will clear the area tomorrow,” she said. “But today we want to encourage everyone to stay safe.”
For people who don’t have air conditioning inside, Innamorato was encouraging residents to seek out places like libraries, malls and movie theaters. She said the department of human services was reaching out to people without homes to find cool places to get indoors. And she encouraged people who have to work outside today to take precautions.
Outdoor concerts, other events nixed
Allegheny County canceled its summer concert set for South Park on Friday and closed its pools but hasn’t yet canceled any Saturday events.
The City of Pittsburgh closed pools early on Thursday, and on Friday opted not to open them at all, while cancelling the farmers market on the North Side, plus its Cinema in the Park, Community Pop-Up Concert and Roving Art Cart programs.
The city extended cooling center operations at six Healthy Active Living Centers — in Beechview, Greenfield, Homewood, Mount Washington, Sheraden and the South Side Flats — through 7 p.m. Friday.
Industrial emitters told to curb activities
On Thursday, the county triggered an Air Pollution Episode Warning for the Mon Valley, which compels companies emitting pollution in that area to temporarily reduce activities.
U.S. Steel said in response to questions from Pittsburgh’s Public Source that it “has adjusted operations as required until air quality improves and alerts are lifted” per the county’s episode response plan. The company noted that this week’s air quality problems are driven by wildfires, “not localized industrial activity or inversion conditions.”
U.S. Steel’s Mon Valley Works normally account for around one-quarter of the county’s greenhouse gasses.
Innamorato said that the smoke from wildfires is a reminder for places like Allegheny County to continue to be vigilant about reducing climate emissions. “This is a consequence of inaction,” she said.
Albert Presto, the director of atmospheric particle studies at Carnegie Mellon, said forest fires have led to the worst air quality days in Pittsburgh in the past decade according to measurements in Lawrenceville. “The worst days in that period — and pretty much the only ones to get to orange or worse — were fire days in 2026, 2023 and 2021,” he said.
But this week’s pollution was particularly bad. “I don’t have all of the historical data in front of me,” he said. “but there’s a decent chance that yesterday was the most polluted day that most county residents ever experienced.”
The Department of Environmental Protection placed the entire state on a Code Red Air Quality Alert status on Thursday.
The environmental advocacy organization The Breathe Project said it was the fourth such alert in the state’s history, following three such declarations in 2023, when wildfires also polluted the Mid-Atlantic region.
“Heavy fossil fuel use for more than a century has contributed to global warming and wildfires,” Breathe Project said in its press release. “In Southwestern Pennsylvania, wildfire pollution mixes with and adds to existing pollution from 150 years of industrial pollution. Environmental justice communities face the greatest burden at these times.”
Oliver Morrison is the health and environment reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source and can be reached at oliver@publicsource.org.
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