Air quality advisories are in effect across British Columbia as wildfire smoke continues to blanket the province.
Metro Vancouver issued a new air quality warning Wednesday for the region, as well as the Fraser Valley, due to elevated fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke.
In a statement, the regional district said the haze is expected to persist for several days, with smoke drifting in from fires east of Hope, near Whistler, in the Cariboo region and from south of the border.
Residents are being urged to limit outdoor activity, monitor symptoms and check on family members and neighbours.
Dr. Sarah Henderson, the scientific director of environmental health services with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, told a news conference that gases and fine particles from wildfire smoke would linger in Metro Vancouver for a few days.
“Although we have much more to learn about these longer-lasting health impacts, it’s important to understand that if you take measures to protect yourself from wildfire smoke when it’s smoky outside, you’ll also be protecting your health in the longer term,” she said.
Henderson added that forecasts show that it might get smokier in the Fraser Valley over the coming days, and that wildfire smoke was highly dynamic.
Wildfire smoke doesn’t stay the same once it leaves the flames. As smoke drifts, chemical reactions can make it even more toxic. And as Johanna Wagstaffe reports, scientists are working to pinpoint when and where health risks are the greatest — to try to build that into future forecasts.
Environment Canada has also issued air quality advisories due to the smoke for areas of the Interior and northeast. The smoke related to the air advisories is expected to persist until Friday in most places.
It says people should keep windows closed and use air filters or portable air cleaners indoors, with more tips for staying safe during smoke events available here.
However, Henderson cautioned that excess heat could be more dangerous than smoke in some situations.
“If you do not have access to air conditioning, closing the doors and windows might lead to overheating in your home. For most people, that’s a bigger risk factor than inhaling the smoke,” she said.
“So we encourage people to prioritize staying cool and then prioritize reducing their smoke exposure.”
In its latest update, the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) says smoke is persisting across the central regions, including the Cariboo Fire Centre and southern portions of the Prince George Fire Centre, while haze is expected to remain widespread across southern B.C.
According to the BCWS, the smoke acts like a blanket or cloud cover and might reduce fire behaviour in some regions by limiting daytime heating.
But weeks of hot and dry conditions have left fuels across the province “highly susceptible” to new fire starts, says Mikhail Elsay, a fire information officer with the wildfire service.
As of Wednesday morning, 155 wildfires are burning across the province, including 11 new starts in the past 24 hours.
“It’s going to be a challenging next few days for all the firefighters out here on the line,” Elsay told CBC News. “These hot and dry conditions are leading to, again, intense fire behaviour every afternoon.”
Cliff Chapman, director of provincial operations for the BCWS, told a news conference that officials usually saw fire behaviour reduce in September.
“This September, we’re seeing kind of the opposite of that. We’re seeing our fuels are very receptive [to burning],” he said.
“We are in more, like, August conditions, although we still do have the benefit of shorter days as we enter into September,” he added. “So that’s the one thing that is helping us.”
Elsay says the Beef Creek Trail wildfire in the Cariboo region, which prompted an evacuation order Tuesday for 150 parcels of land and multiple First Nations reserves, continues to burn aggressively.
The fire has now grown to an estimated 78 square kilometres, up from 60 square kilometres Tuesday night.
Heat warnings in place
Environment Canada has also issued heat warnings for nine areas of the province, including inland portions of the north and central coast, the North and South Thompson, and the Fraser Canyon and Boundary regions, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-30s through to Thursday, with overnight lows down to about 18 C.
According to the weather agency, daily maximum highs climbed to 40 C in Lytton on Tuesday, breaking the community’s previous record of 39.6 C set in 2022.
A ridge of high pressure has prompted more heat warnings in British Columbia and broken temperature records, including one that was nearly a century old. CBC’s Michelle Ghoussoub reports.
Other B.C. communities that set daily high temperature records included Cache Creek in the Interior where the temperature hit 39.3 C, as well as Kelowna, Princeton and Whistler.
Environment Canada says the ridge of high pressure “anchored” over B.C. poses a moderate health risk, particularly for seniors, people living alone, children and those with chronic health conditions.
The heat warnings are expected to end by Thursday for the southern Interior and Friday for inland parts of the north and central coast.
