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Air quality around the Washington, D.C. area declined dramatically on Sunday, one day after a massive fireworks display was put on for the United States’ 250th birthday celebration.
The worst air quality ratings were recorded near neighborhoods with the highest populations of Black people, one reporter noted.
In an attempt to create a record-breaking performance, the Trump administration announced that it would launch around 850,000 fireworks for the event, much higher than the typical 17,000-20,000 that are launched on Independence Day in the nation’s capital each year. Days before the event was set to take place, internal documents from the National Park Service (NPS) revealed that the administration was aware the display could be harmful to residents, producing “very unhealthy” air, and that exposure to the outdoors should be limited after the show.
Air readings on Sunday revealed a “purple” rating for areas of Washington and parts of northern Virginia. Such a rating means that people with air sensitivities should not go outside at all. Even individuals without such concerns are advised against prolonged activities outside. Other areas surrounding D.C. received “orange” alerts, again alerting those with sensitivities against engaging in outdoor activities for prolonged periods.
The air rating was so bad that D.C. ranked sixth among the world’s most polluted cities on Sunday.
“Hazardous firework-induced smog continues to hover over Washington D.C. this morning,” atmospheric scientist and meteorologist Matthew Cappucci wrote in a post on X on Sunday. “Avoid time outdoors if you can.”
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“The air is so filled with microscopic particulates (PM2.5) that it’s potentially harmful to exert oneself outside,” Cappucci added.
Washington D.C.-based journalist Brad Johnson noted that the worst-hit areas on Sunday appeared to be in nonwhite communities surrounding the city.
“Plume evolution shows the toxic core over DC’s Ward 8 and PG County in Maryland, the part of the region with the highest Black population,” Johnson wrote in a Bluesky post.
Notably, NPS documents advised agency staff not to consider the risks of fireworks or the resulting pollution based on “race, ethnicity, income, disability, age, or language,” despite the fact that there is a greater prevalence of respiratory issues for people with lower incomes and communities of color.
Air pollution and quality are not just a problem for Black communities after Fourth of July firework displays, but throughout every day of the year. Indeed, a study from 2024 found that communities of color have nearly eight times higher rates of pediatric asthma due to direct exposure to air pollutants.
“Redlining and systemic racism have resulted in the least white areas of the U.S. being located near factories, congested roadways or shipping routes with heavily polluted air,” said research scientist Gaige Kerr, who co-authored the study, adding that there is a “need for place-based policies that allocate resources and target action into historically overburdened communities in the United States.”
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