New Jersey Air Quality Index shows elevated ozone levels across the state

A Cumberland County fire caused an air quality alert, but according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov data, air quality across much of New Jersey is currently rated as moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups (USG), primarily due to elevated levels of ground-level ozone.

As of 6:00 p.m. EDT, ozone levels in several regions, including Central New Jersey, Monmouth County, Northeast Urban areas, Riverline, South Coastal, Southeast Burlington and Ocean Counties, and the Southern Bay region, all reached an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 105, placing them in the USG category.

This designation indicates that while the general public is not likely to be affected, individuals with respiratory conditions such as asthma, as well as older adults and children, may experience health effects and are advised to limit prolonged outdoor exertion.

In contrast, the Delaware Water Gap reported a lower ozone AQI of 29, categorized as Good, while still projecting an increase to 100 by Monday, which borders the upper end of the Moderate range.

PM2.5 — fine particulate matter often associated with vehicle emissions and other combustion sources — also registered Moderate AQI values across most of the state, ranging from 54 to 69.

These levels are not expected to pose a risk to the general population but could have minor health implications for individuals who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.

AirNow.gov’s forecast for Monday, June 23, indicates that elevated ozone levels are expected to persist, with most regions projected to maintain an AQI of 105, remaining in the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups range.

Residents, particularly those in vulnerable groups, are encouraged to monitor air quality updates, reduce outdoor physical activity during peak pollution hours (typically mid-afternoon to early evening), and follow public health guidance if conditions worsen.

The Cumberland County air quality alert resulted from a fire at a recycling plant.

“Heavy smoke conditions” forced an emergency alert, urging residents in parts of Cumberland and Gloucester Counties to stay indoors, shut their windows, and pray the wind didn’t shift in their direction.

The acrid stench of burning plastic and melted metal still hangs heavy over North Mill Road, where firefighters battled a four-alarm inferno at Giordano’s Recycling well into the early hours of Sunday morning.

The flames may have been subdued by dawn, but the aftermath lingers—thick smoke curling into the June sky, road closures snaking through the city like a bad omen, and an air quality alert warning residents to seal themselves inside like prisoners in their own homes.

Cumberland County officials confirmed the fire was under control by 7 a.m., but the real danger wasn’t just the smoldering wreckage—it was what lingered in the air.

For those with asthma, the elderly, the very young—this wasn’t just an inconvenience. It was a threat.

The scene was chaos incarnate—Landis Avenue choked with fire trucks, hose lines crisscrossing the road like veins, and hazmat teams from Gloucester County moving through the haze like ghosts. Salem County fire police clocked in seven-hour shifts, their radios crackling with the frantic dispatches of a county stretched thin. Public works rolled in with barrels to block off the ruins, a makeshift barricade against the kind of disaster no one saw coming.

And yet, according to the feds, the air quality was only “moderate.”

Tell that to the people coughing behind closed windows. Tell that to the workers who’ll clock in Monday morning, breathing God-knows-what while the suits in Washington debate acceptable levels of poison. AirNow.gov’s cold metrics—ozone levels at 105, PM2.5 creeping toward 70—don’t capture the way smoke seeps into your clothes, your lungs, your life.

For the most up-to-date and localized air quality data, visit AirNow.gov.