![\"Phoenix's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1767013397_458_.png\"\/)
<\/p>\nPhoenix rang in the 2025 New Year with some of the worst air quality ever recorded in the Valley. And the Maricopa County Air Quality Department is urging residents to help keep skies clearer for New Year\u2019s 2026.<\/p>\n
The Valley is shaped like a big bowl, and in the winter, cooler weather creates a pressure change that pushes pollution lower to the earth, trapping it right over the city, said Maricopa County Air Quality Department spokesperson Ari Halpert.<\/p>\n
On New Year\u2019s Eve, at-home fireworks supercharge the problem.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Environmental Protection Agency<\/p>\n
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Handout<\/p>\n
Phoenix’s air quality on New Year’s Day 2025 was the worst in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cJan. 1, 2025 we had the third-worst air quality in the world, the worst in the nation, and the main culprit for that were consumer fireworks,\u201d Halpert said. \u201cWe ask everyone to celebrate in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n
The smoke was so thick last New Year\u2019s Day<\/a> that some parts of the Valley saw \u201chazardous\u201d air quality conditions \u2014 the most severe category on the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Air Quality Index.<\/p>\n Halpert said Valley residents can do their part to improve air quality this year by skipping at-home fireworks displays, and leaving pyrotechnics to the professionals.<\/p>\n Environmental Protection Agency <\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Handout<\/p>\n Smoke was so thick on Jan. 1, 2025, that some parts of the Valley saw \u201chazardous\u201d air quality conditions \u2014 the most severe category on the Environmental Protection Agency\u2019s Air Quality Index.<\/p>\n \u201cProfessional fireworks explode up in the atmosphere and have a chance to disperse all that pollution, so it doesn\u2019t pose as big of a threat as these consumer fireworks,\u201d Halpert said.<\/p>\n Halpert said another important way to keep pollution at bay is not to burn wood in your fireplace or outdoor fire pit.<\/p>\n Halpert said smoke from wood burning and fireworks can be harmful to everyone. Tiny particulates get deep into the lungs, which can worsen respiratory issues like asthma or bronchitis.<\/p>\n \u201cThey also carry toxins that can reach our bloodstream and exacerbate or pose a danger to our cardiac health,\u201d Halpert said.<\/p>\n For some qualifying residents, the department offers up to $2,000<\/a> to cover the costs of converting wood burning fireplaces to gas models.<\/p>\n Residents can sign up for alerts about air quality through the department\u2019s website<\/a>, or keep up-to-date on its Clean Air app<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phoenix rang in the 2025 New Year with some of the worst air quality ever recorded in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":477658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-477657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-phoenix","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-united-states-of-america","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115802997038548062","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Smoke](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1767013399_616_.png\"\/)
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