Air quality gets better in city
Smoke from forest fires meant unhealthy air earlier in the week
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Friday, July 3, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Most Yellowknife residents did not need to be told that the air quality was poor earlier this week due to smoke from forest fires.
A large plume of smoke encroaches on the city from the west back on May 29. Smoky conditions led to poor air quality in Yellowknife earlier this week. It improved as the week went along but recent air quality warnings have brought back memories of last summer's smoky
conditions. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo |
The distinct smell of smoke was particularly noticeable on Tuesday. In fact, on a scale of one to 10, Yellowknife recorded a 10 on Tuesday meaning the air quality health index (AQHI) was poor and had the potential to put people's health at risk.
The air over the city was so bad that Environment Canada, along with the territorial government's departments of Environment and Natural Resources and Health and Social Services issued a special air quality statement that was in effect for the city Tuesday, Wednesday and again yesterday. The weather agency stated that despite the AQHI falling to three yesterday, which is a low risk to people's health, poor air quality was still occurring.
"A large area of smoke from forest fires over the NWT continues to create smoky conditions. Visibility has been reduced to less than two kilometres in some areas," Environment Canada stated yesterday morning.
"Smoke near the ground may cause potentially high health risk conditions. The smoke was expected to persist yesterday as winds were to remain light.
But a major weather system is expected to bring some showers to the Great Slave Lake area today. This may bring some relief to the smoke," according to Environment Canada.
Dr. Kami Kandola, deputy chief public health officer for the NWT, said on Tuesday that at this point, the message from her office regarding health and forest fire smoke is essentially the same as it was last year.
"Typically, the recommendations are for the vulnerable populations which are children, the elderly and people with heart and lung disease," Kandola said. "They should reduce or reschedule strenuous activities outdoors. But for the general population, healthy people without chronic health conditions, those people should consider reducing or rescheduling strenuous outdoor activities only if they are displaying symptoms such as coughing and throat irritation."
There are things that she recommended people do, that she herself adheres to.
"I have allergies that get irritated by smoke so what I do is I stay inside and keep my windows and doors closed. No one smokes in the home so the air quality inside my house is good," Kandola said. "We have a HEPA filter and I turn that on because the air-cleaner can really reduce the fine particulate matter, the fine particles, the small ones that can go deep into our lungs and cause irritation."
People who have asthma or lung disease should ensure their medication hasn't expired, Kandola said.
"You probably want to make a visit to the doctor and make sure you have medication on hand and use it as they recommend so you won't have asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) exacerbation," she said.
All the information anyone would need about the forest fire situation in the territory, including where the fires are, whether highways are impacted and the quality of the air, can be found at gov.nt.ca.
