(WIVT/WBGH) – The smoke and haze blanketing the Southern Tier wasn’t as thick as yesterday, but still causing disruptions across the state.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand held a news conference this afternoon to detail the status of the wildfire smoke and give her plans moving forward.

Gillibrand is calling on the U.S. Forest Service to be on call to provide assistance to those fighting the fires in Canada.

She is also urging the Senate Appropriations Committee to allocate $5,000,000 to help modernize the five clean air monitoring stations located across the Northeast of the country.

Gillibrand attributes the cause of the wildfires to climate change.

Gillibrand says, “We are seeing record setting heat waves, which in turn, are sparking record setting wildfires in places like California, Australia and Canada. As the impacts of climate change make wildfires and weather events like this one more common, it is incumbent upon all of us to protect one another and do what we can to mitigate damage.”

Gillibrand says to avoid activities that create more fine particles, especially indoors.

Such as Smoking, lighting a candle, spraying aerosol, or vacuuming.

She says to stay inside as much as possible, and if you have to use your car, make sure to set the air to re-circulate.