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Franklin Avenue and downtown Yellowknife melt into smoke from the viewpoint at Pilot's Monument on Monday as wind brings in smoke from forest fires in Northern Alberta. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Forest fires burning in Alberta are causing the haze of smoke that began enveloping Yellowknife Monday morning.

"The majority of smoke in Yellowknife is coming from wildfires burning in Northern Alberta," stated Judy McLinton, manager of public affairs and communications for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, in an e-mail to Yellowknifer.

"Smoke may be an issue until the wind changes."

Whitney Exton, wildfire information officer for the Province of Alberta, said wildfires fires in the province this year have consumed 306,320 hectares of forest to date. She said, as of yesterday afternoon, 45 fires were currently burning at varying levels of containment and the resulting smoke is expected to spread to areas in the NWT and Alberta, depending on wind direction.

"We're hoping to see some rain (today) over the fire," Exton said. "So hopefully that will help our firefighters to get the fires contained and reduce small fire behaviour and hopefully reduce the smoke as well"

The resulting dip in air quality means people with or without chronic breathing problems may experience symptoms including sore eyes, sore throat, and coughing.

"Every kind of smoke effects people with breathing problems and even has impacts on people who don't have any necessarily," said Andre Corriveau, NWT chief public health officer. "Obviously you'd be more tolerant if you didn't have asthma, don't have heart disease, don't have lung disease ... but even a healthy person, if they go for a long run for example, would start feeling effects."

Corriveau said Yellowknife residents are advised to avoid strenuous outdoor activity while the poor air sticks around since an increased breathing rate would introduce more harmful particles deep inside the lungs.

"The other thing you can do is avoid putting more smoke into your lungs," said Corriveau. "If you're a smoker, maybe it's a good time to quit or cut back because the more you add the more it creates problems."

Aside from taking it easy, Corriveau said people can protect themselves and their lungs best by staying indoors and keeping the doors and windows shut.

"We usually recommend that people turn off ventilation systems that bring in a lot of air from outside inside," he said. "Although that works for a few hours, eventually the amount of smoke will (equalize with the amount outside) but initially it will make a difference."

Masks, apart from expensive high filtration masks, are generally ineffective and are not recommended for protection, he said.

"I think for most healthy people it's just a matter of slowing down a bit," said Corriveau.

"This is one we can't do anything about and hopefully it won't last very long."

He advised that anyone experiencing increased shortness of breath should consult a physician, particularly those with existing medical conditions.

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