CHOKED BY SMOKE
Health officials are urging people to reduce their time outdoors as wildfire smoke blanketing Calgary reached levels considered “very high” risk.
On Sunday morning, Environment Canada's special air quality statement for Calgary rated the risk from smoke wafting in from wildfires across Western Canada at a level 10, the highest number on the scale and just shy of the very high risk category.
It reached the highest level of 10-plus midday Sunday and was expected to remain at a level 10 late in the day.
At-risk populations such as those with respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, seniors, pregnant women and children are being advised to remain indoors or reduce strenuous activities outside.
For the general population, the special statement said “consider reducing or rescheduling strenuous activities outdoors if you experience symptoms such as coughing and throat irritation.”
It is also recommended to keep doors and windows closed, and shut off ventilation systems that bring air from outside.
Vulnerable populations are especially susceptible to tiny, dangerous
particulates carried in the acrid smoke.
They are measured as concentrations of microscopic particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, or PM 2.5. The particulate level of Sunday's peak was 202 PM 2.5 — far more than the guideline of 80, said Mandeep Dhaliwal, air quality program manager for the Calgary Region Airshed Zone.
“It's not just the vulnerable when it gets to this level, everyone's affected,” he said.
He said the smoke particles are too small for regular surgical masks to capture, adding a more sturdy N95 mask is effective.
Those particles are small enough to enter the bloodstream after inflaming the lungs and poison the host, said Dhaliwal.
Wildfire smoke has also considerably limited visibility in the Calgary area and other parts of the province.
The smoke risk is expected to moderate slightly on Monday with a reading of 9, which is still high risk, before falling to 6, considered a moderate hazard, on Tuesday.
On Friday, the City of Calgary announced a fire ban, mainly to prevent worsening the local air quality.
“Today's fire ban reflects significant, increased risk of air quality resulting from wildfire smoke and a need to restrict burning that would contribute to this,” said deputy fire chief Ken Uzeloc.
Scientists say climate change has made much more likely and intensified extreme heat that has severely parched much of the B.C. interior, resulting in 300 wildfires.
Many of those fires remain out of control and have resulted in several evacuations in that province.
But an Environment Canada meteorologist said most of the smoke in the Calgary and Edmonton areas on Sunday was not from B.C. wildfires.
Justin Shelley says that while smoke issues in Alberta last week were largely due to the B.C. fires, a wind change has meant most of the smoke in the two cities is now coming from wildfires in northern Saskatchewan.
“It's a multi-layered, smoky mess,” Shelley said from Edmonton, explaining that wind directions differ depending on altitude, so smoke can be blowing from different provinces at different levels.
A Torontonian in Calgary to market cookware on the Stampede grounds said he was shocked by the density of Sunday 's haze in the city.
“When I got up and saw all the smoke, I thought there were houses burning around me,” said Mohsen Karimiyan.
One city police officer spending most of the day outdoors patrolling the Calgary Stampede said she was surprised not to be badly affected by the smoke.
“And I have asthma and allergies,” said the constable, who chose not to give her name.
But she noted it was early in her shift. “Ask me how I feel six hours from now,” said the officer. “The smoke wasn't this bad in Vernon when I was there last week.”
A Calgary EMS spokeswoman said Sunday there hasn't been a spike in patients falling ill to the smoke's effects but added that might only be a matter of time.
“We haven't seen a huge spike yet but typically we tend to see a bit of a lag,” said Helene Hamilton.
She said her colleagues were kept busy with smoke-related calls in summer 2018, which proved to be a particularly hazy season.
Most of those patients suffered from asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, she said.
“The first couple of days people were able to manage it at home . . . but there's a tipping point,” said Hamilton.
“The big push from us is prevention — we recommend people avoid the outdoors if they can and, when in their cars, put their air conditioning on recycle instead of having fresh air come inside.”
Earlier this month and in late June, EMS in Alberta were kept busy dealing with the effects of another climate change-related condition — extreme, record-breaking heat that's believed to have killed hundreds of people in B.C.'S Lower Mainland.