Canadian Wildfires Impact Our Air Quality

There are currently 413 active wildfires, with 249 are deemed out of control burning across both eastern and western Canada. Wildfires are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories with no end in site. The Canadian government officials said their modeling shows increased wildfire risk in most of Canada through August. For days I have had a sore throat, my entire household is has been coughing and last nigh  the sunset was a red ball of fire.  I called up the air monitor in Long Park down the road from me and saw that our air quality on Thursday morning was:

 

This is the worst air quality I have ever seen at that monitoring station.  It would be a good idea to keep your kids inside. The wind is coming from the northwest and made all the worse by summer weather. They are predicting that it might ameliorate in the next day or two. In the meantime, don't let the kids play outside and rethink that golf game. 

Poor air quality can hurt the very young, the elderly and the sick. When particulate pollution is high it is best to stay indoors. On hot summer days even in areas without wildfires, air quality can be impacted. Before you drive your kids out to soccer practice or a game, check the air quality. Long term exposure to particulate pollution can cause premature death in people with pre-existing cardiac or respiratory disease, but it is simply not healthy to send the kids out to exert themselves on poor air quality days.

Air pollution in the form of fine particles with diameters smaller than 2.5 microns, called PM 2.5, lodge in the lungs which can aggravate other conditions both immediately and long term –cutting months off of lives. This fine particulate matter can have immediate health impacts: itchy, watery eyes, increased respiratory symptoms such as irritation of the airways, coughing or difficulty breathing and aggravated asthma. Long term health effects can result from both short-term and long-term exposure to particulate pollution. Two major studies one called the "Harvard Six Cities" and the other the American Cancer Society study, both outlined the connections between human health and exposure to fine particles.

PM 2.5 is either directly emitted or formed in the atmosphere. Directly-emitted particles come from a variety of sources such as cars, trucks, buses, industrial facilities, power plants, construction sites, tilled fields, unpaved roads, stone crushing, and burning of wood and the vast fires burning in Canada now. Other particles are formed indirectly when gases produced by fossil fuel combustion react with sunlight and water vapor. Combustion from motor vehicles, diesel generators, power plants, and refineries emit particles directly and emit precursor pollutants that form secondary particulates. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, requires states to monitor air quality and ensure that it meets minimum air quality standards. The US EPA has established both annual and 24-hour PM2.5 air quality standards (as well as standards for other pollutants). The annual standard is now 12 ug/m3 (an AQI of 39). The 24-hr standard is 35 ug/m3 (an AQI of 99).