Westport Public Schools Cancels Activities Due To Wildfire Smoke

WESTPORT, CT — Westport Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice announced that the district is canceling after school activities on due to the unhealthy air quality from the Canadian wildfires.

Earlier in the day, the Westport issued a warning to residents about the unhealthy conditions. Below is Scarice's message to families:

Dear Westport Families,

As you are likely aware, most of the New England states and much of the east coast is under air quality alerts due to the Canadian wildfires. The current air quality for Westport is presently in the unhealthy zone and the below recommendations provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Based on the recommendations below, and after discussions with our medical advisor, earlier today, we cancelled all outside recess and outside activities. We will also cancel all after school activities this afternoon. We will continue to monitor the situation on a day by day basis.

Additionally, the Connecticut Association of Schools and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC), the governing body for secondary school athletics and other interscholastic competition in Connecticut has postponed this afternoon’s state tournament games due to the air quality forecast. These games have been rescheduled for tomorrow.

The following advice has been provided by AirNow, a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control:

People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure:

• Avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
• Keep outdoor activities short.
• Consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them.

Everyone else – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure:

• Choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard.
• Shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors.
• Be active outdoors when air quality is better.