Festus, MO – there is an air quality alert for the Twin City area today due to the continuing massive forest fires in Canada. Smoke from the wildfires are being blown south into the United States, causing poor air quality for large areas of the Midwest. The air quality index is 131 on a scale from 0 to 500.

The primary pollutant is PM 2.5, an air particle that is small enough to enter the bloodstream. Exposure to this particle can cause respiratory illness, lung infections, heart disease, and stroke. Long-term exposure can cause cancer.

Those who are in the sensitive group, small children, elderly, and people with respiratory illnesses, should remain indoors and if needed only go outside for short periods of time.

Paul Barnard Editor

Paul Barnard is the editor of the Twin City News. Barnard Graduated from Norwich University, America's oldest private military college, with a B.S. in Communications and Media Technology. There he studied journalism and marketing. For years after, Barnard was in law enforcement and gained experience in the Special Investigations Unit and publishing all the department's press releases. As Barnard's family grew, he moved on to start Twin City News.

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