Wildfire smoke forces cancellation of sports events, Rainbow Stage matinee in Winnipeg
Much of the province, including the southern cities of Winnipeg and Brandon and Thompson to the north, remained under air quality warnings from the agency on Saturday.
Environment Canada's alert advised people to reschedule or cancel outdoor sports, activities and events to limit exposure to wildfire smoke.
The agency said the current conditions can affect anyone's health, regardless of their age or health status, but warned pregnant people, young children and those with underlying medical conditions are more prone to the effects of smoke.
While the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which started Thursday and continues until Sunday, is going ahead at Birds Hill Provincial Park as planned on Saturday, organizers of some other outdoor events decided to cancel.
Rainbow Stage, which performs in an open-air theatre at Winnipeg's Kildonan Park, cancelled its matinee performance of Rock of Ages on Saturday.
Wildfire smoke "is now, regrettably, one of the many nature-related challenges that we face," the theatre company said in a statement posted to social media.
The show was scheduled to go up at 2 p.m. Rainbow Stage said it was hoping to go ahead with its 7:30 p.m. performance as planned, with hourly forecasts and upcoming wind changes suggesting air quality could be at acceptable levels by then.
As of 3 p.m., Winnipeg's air quality health index remained at the "very high risk" 10+ level. It was forecast to drop to Level 7 — the "high risk" range — on Saturday night, but climb back into the 10+ range by Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Football Manitoba said via social media it was cancelling a weekend provincial tournament in Winnipeg due to poor air quality.
The organization said that under its safety policy, it won't proceed with outdoor play when the air quality index is forecast to exceed Level 7, meaning "high risk."
Football Manitoba said moving indoors wasn't an option, as many local facilities are being used to host evacuees who had been forced away from their homes by wildfires.
And Baseball Manitoba initially thought early Saturday morning it might be able to move ahead with its games, but cancelled them later that morning due to air quality concerns.
Manitoba is under a second provincial state of emergency for this season, declared earlier this week.
According to the province's latest fire bulletin, issued Friday, the Manitoba Wildfire Service was responding to 107 active wildfires across the province, which has seen a total of 270 wildfires to date — well above the average for this time of year of 201.
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