00:00Under hazy skies, soccer fever has spread across New York and New Jersey.
00:05The energy and the excitement in the city has just been amazing in every way.
00:10Wildfire smoke from Canada has been stealing the spotlight from the World Cup festivities.
00:15Kids still making the most of the early hours before the heat and smoke intensified.
00:21It wasn't part of the plan, but listen, we're providing water breaks and hydration breaks, making sure that everyone feels
00:26safe.
00:27American Heart Association volunteers are teaching teens about hands-off CPR
00:32and sharing the warning signs of staying safe with wildfire smoke.
00:37Now we're told to stay indoors, you know, don't go outside.
00:41It affects our elderly, it affects our children, so it's very concerning.
00:46Locals and tourists coming to this popular vantage point across the Hudson to snap selfies
00:51have been struggling to see the city skyline through the smoke.
00:54When we were landing, we smelled something was burning.
00:58My girlfriend was actually a little bit panicked.
01:00She thought maybe, you know, something was wrong with the plane.
01:03We had no idea.
01:04Sam van Rolte and his girlfriend traveled from the Netherlands for the World Cup.
01:09Up next, a six-week road trip from the Big Apple through the Great Lakes to the West Coast.
01:15Wildfire smoke was never part of the plan.
01:18We're going to do it regardless, so if the smoke is there, you know, it's there.
01:22Locals say this site brings back memories of the historic wildfire smoke from 2023.
01:28I can't breathe, you know.
01:30It smells like fire, like fire, you know.
01:34Like, this is crazy.
01:36This is crazy, you know.
01:39It's unbelievable that this has happened again.
01:43Rebecca Fernandez was hoping it was once in a lifetime.
01:46Now, she's preparing for the reality of more rounds of wildfire smoke likely through the rest of this summer into
01:54the fall.
01:54In New York City, for AccuWeather, I'm Bill Waddell.
Comments