Freedom 250’s July 4 Fireworks Trigger Code Red Air Quality Alert in Washington, D.C.

A post–July 4 fireworks haze pushed Washington, D.C. into a Code Red air quality alert on Sunday, as officials urged residents to limit time outdoors because the air was harmful to seniors, children, and people with medical conditions.

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CBS News

CNN reported that residents experienced the worst air quality in the world among large cities according to IQAir after a massive 40-minute Independence Day fireworks show organized by Freedom 250.

CBS News

By 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Sunday, D.C. had fallen to 26th place on IQAir’s monitoring platform, which tracks air pollution levels.

Montgomery County’s chief medical officer Kisha Davis said, “The air quality today is like running a marathon while smoking a cigarette,” and she added that rain could help cleanse the air.

Internal National Park Service documents provided to The Washington Post indicated expected “very unhealthy” conditions in downtown DC due to the show, with advice to limit time outdoors and wear N95 masks while viewing.

In and around Washington, D.C., the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments issued a “purple” air quality alert for the nation’s capital and parts of northern Virginia, while suburban areas received an “orange” alert and parts of Maryland were assigned “yellow” alerts.

CBS News said the “purple” alert corresponded with “very unhealthy” air and warned against all outdoor physical activity for people in sensitive groups and prolonged outdoor physical activity for everyone else.

CNN

NBC4 Washington reported that as of Sunday morning, D.C. and parts of Prince George's County were under a Code Red, with Storm Team4 Meteorologist Ryan Miller saying, “We have unhealthy air quality, Code Red, right now.”

Forbes tied the alert to air quality index readings, saying the air quality index recorded at D.C.’s McMillan Reservoir reached 157 by 10 a.m. EDT and that the King Greenleaf Recreation Center peaked at 288 around 5 a.m. EDT.

CBS News also reported that Washington, D.C. was ranked sixth among the world's most polluted cities on Sunday, trailing Pakistan's Lahore and Congo's Kinshasa in first and second place, respectively.

The scale of the fireworks display was central to the air-quality warnings, with CNN describing a 40-minute show organized by Freedom 250 that involved 850,000 fireworks launched from 10 sites spanning the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Potomac River barges and West Potomac Park.

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Forbes

CNN also reported that the show was expected to set a Guinness World Record, noting a benchmark of 810,904 fireworks at a 2016 New Year’s Eve countdown celebration in the Philippines, and that there was no public confirmation as of Sunday that the display had been certified.

The DC Fire and EMS Department reported 96 patient contacts and 40 patient transports from the National Mall between midnight Friday and 9 a.m. Sunday, according to the National Special Security Event Joint Information Center.

George Washington University reported 289 patient contacts from the National Mall as of 10 p.m. Saturday, and CNN said the center also reported that the Department of Health and Human Services reported 314 patient contacts.

In a statement tied to the event’s planning, Freedom 250 said it had coordinated with Freedom 250, United States Park Police, National Park Service, the United States Secret Service, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to adjust event timing and expand cooling resources, water stations, and medical support across the grounds.