Earlier this week, New York City recorded its worst air quality in nearly three years as wildfires raged out West and in Canada (and continue to do so). A thick haze covered the city’s skyline as smoke from the climate-fueled fires coated the country, traveling thousands of miles to the East Coast. But wildfire haze differs from tailpipe emissions and other air contaminants that typically bombard city slickers.

WNYC's Sean Carlson spoke with Dr. Erin Landguth, a computational ecologist at the University of Montana, to get a sense of the risks.