(WBEN) - Concerns continue with air quality levels across Western New York and New York State, as smoke from the burning wildfires in Quebec, Canada continues to plunge Southward into the region.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says the smoke is affecting "every corner of the state" on Thursday, and doesn't believe, at this time, there is an end in sight. She adds that the air quality alerts in effect across New York State on Thursday are expected to be extended once again through Friday.
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With school now out for the summer, many kids across the region are expected to spend plenty of the weeks ahead outdoors, whether it's at home or at a local youth program. Hochul advises everyone, especially camp group leaders across the state to take precaution when heading outdoors with kids in unhealthy air quality levels.
"We're making sure all the camp counselors and the leaders of the camps know that kids should not be outside for prolonged periods of time without a mask," said Hochul on Thursday.
West Seneca Town Supervisor Gary Dickson and his team are constantly keeping tabs on the air quality conditions when the levels start to worsen. This is especially the case when it comes to the town's recreation department and any programs they may be holding outdoors on a given day.
"If it's a program that our recreation department is putting on and there's too much smoke outside, then they will limit the outdoor time," said Dickson during an event Thursday at the town's new inclusive playground at Centennial Park.
When it comes to local playgrounds and splash pads, Dickson says they are almost open 24/7, which mean it's up to the parents to make the decision on whether they want to head outside with the kids.
While air quality levels in West Seneca have needed some extra monitoring over the last few weeks, Dickson is hopeful this will not become a regular occurrence during the summer months.
"That would be a real bummer," he said. "Luckily, it's only when the winds are blowing a certain way does it come to Western New York. Even today, they were warning it could be bad, but as we see, you can see a little bit on the horizon but overhead, it's still blue."
When it comes to who makes the call on changing plans for youth rec programs in the Town of West Seneca if the air quality is too unhealthy, Dickson says the director for the recreation department will keep an eye on that and then go through the chain of command.
"She usually is the one in coordination with me and with the highway superintendent, and will decide whether or not to keep something open for the outside," he said. "We've been pretty lucky, it's only been a couple of days, and the kids were in school a couple of weeks ago, so it didn't really come up."
If there is the need to change things up, Dickson says the Town of West Seneca offers plenty of other spaces to host kids for the day.
"There's certainly space in the community center that they can move a small group of kids to. So yeah, we certainly take that into account," Dickson said. "It's same thing with a pool, if there's thunder or lightning, we close the pool."
When it comes to youth programs with organizations like YMCA Buffalo-Niagara, Vice President of Education and Childcare Services, Brenna Lupo says they are taking the air quality concerns in the region very seriously.
"We monitor it hourly, at this point, and we follow all state and local guidelines," said Lupo at the Independent Health Family Branch YMCA in Amherst. "Our programs, while they have been impacted as far as being outside and doing those typical camp things, the kids are still getting an excellent camp experience. And we're focusing on different areas of camp."
Lupo says she and the rest of her team are monitoring the air quality levels every day, just as they would if there are thunderstorms in the forecast.
As far as camp goes, Lupo and the YMCA is in coordination with the Erie County and Niagara County Department of Health guidelines in order to determine whether or not kids are safe enough to be outside on any given day.
However, if the original plans for camp that given day need to be changed due to air quality concerns, Lupo says secondary and tiertiary plans are in place to still allow for a pretty great day with the kids.
"Many of our facilities have indoor pools, so the kids are still getting their swimming lessons. At camps, like our outdoor camps, we're doing things with our specialists where the kids are staying put in their barns or buildings that we have at those camps, and our specialists that are doing ropes or things like that are moving to each group and working on different things. They may not be able to climb the rock wall, but they're still learning about knots, belaying, helmets, safety and things like that. So all different things," Lupo said.
And as close as the communication is between the YMCA and local health officials, Lupo is also sure to keep in close contact with parents of the kids taking part in any program.
"The communication is coming directly from those camp directors that are more impacted," she said. "Emails are going out the last two nights to those families saying we're aware of the air quality issue, here's our plan, please let us know if you have any issues. We're also monitoring those kiddos that could be more severely impacted due to allergies or asthma. We are keeping a very close eye on them, as well."
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