07/16/26 04:18:00
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07/16 16:16 CDT Spain practices outside before the World Cup final as smoke
fills the air in northern New Jersey
Spain practices outside before the World Cup final as smoke fills the air in
northern New Jersey
By STEPHEN WHYNO and SETH BORENSTEIN
Associated Press
With the sun obstructed by haze, Spain's players practiced Thursday ahead of
the World Cup final outside in northern New Jersey while air conditions are
hazardous because of smoke from Canadian wildfires.
It was not clear how fast-paced a practice Spain held. Media members are only
able to observe the first 15 minutes of what was scheduled to be a hourlong
session in East Hanover beginning at 11 a.m. EDT.
Argentina remained in the Atlanta area to work out less than 24 hours after
rallying to beat England and reach the final for a second consecutive
tournament. Marietta, Georgia, is far enough south to avoid the effects of the
fire, which are being windblown to the southeast from northern Ontario,
triggering warnings from the U.S. Midwest through the Northeast.
Officials urged people to stay inside or wear masks outside as air quality
reached unhealthy to hazardous levels, meaning it's unhealthy for anyone,
regardless of health conditions. Experts expressed concern over holding
practice outdoors.
"These are high-level athletes who are moving a lot of air through their lungs
during every practice in every game, and really they shouldn't be practicing
outside if the air quality levels are at hazardous sort of ranges for
wildfire-related air pollution," said Dr. Courtney Howard, an emergency room
physician and Global Climate and Health Alliance official. "That's the time to
schedule a practice inside. You could put an N95 mask on them, but trying to
make sure that everybody's mask is well-fitted, I suspect that's not the best
choice. I would go find an air-conditioned indoor facility that's a clean-air
shelter."
Messages sent to FIFA and the Spanish Football Association asking whether that
was considered or possible were not immediately returned. The smoke is expected
to clear the area well before the championship game Sunday in East Rutherford,
New Jersey, with kickoff scheduled for 3 p.m.
The air quality in East Hanover on Thursday started early in the morning as
"unhealthy" but got cleaner, so by mid-afternoon it was merely "unhealthy for
sensitive groups," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air
Now monitoring system. Particle pollution in New Jersey on Thursday was more
than seven times higher than the World Health Organization standard. The
forecast calls for an improvement to "moderate" for Sunday.
Smoke from wildfires --- which are burning more of North America as Earth warms
--- attacks nearly every system in the body, killing tens of thousands of
people a year, numerous medical studies show.
It attacks the body immediately, spiking asthma cases with increased ambulance
runs within hours. Smoke can trigger inflammation in different parts of the
body, often attacking a person's weakest points, which can then cascade into
different effects of an immune system trying to fight a nasty irritant, doctors
and scientists said.
"It's not healthy for anyone to be in the smoke, especially if you're
exercising," Harvard School of Public Health environmental health research
scientist Mary Johnson said. "You're exchanging more air, so you're being
exposed to even more pollutants, and even healthy individuals at some point
will have some type of health effect from the exposure to the smoke. So, even
though these are healthy, young individuals, it's not a good idea to be
exercising in this type of environment."
Scientists have counted at least 1,000 toxins in wildfire smoke, according to
Colorado State University environmental toxicologist Luke Montrose.
"If I gave you a list you would recognize some of these as being very bad often
times associated with the burning of diesel fuel or cigarette smoke things like
formaldehyde or volatile organic compounds," Montrose said. "Just the smoke
itself can be bad."
___
Climate video producer Teresa de Miguel in Washington and SNTV videographers
Lissette Romero in East Hanover, New Jersey, and Max Feliu in Marietta,
Georgia, contributed to this report.
___
See more of AP's World Cup coverage here
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