Wildfires in West cast smoky — and potentially risky — haze over N.B.

CBC

3 days ago

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New Brunswickers might have noticed a haze in the sky over the last couple of days.
The haze is coming from the other side of the country, where wildfires continue to rage, and it could put some vulnerable people in the province at risk if it gets worse.
"The smoke from the Prairies and, you know, Western Canada has been actually detected all the way over in Northern Europe a few days ago," Brian Wiens, the program manager for Canada Wildfire, told Information Morning Fredericton on Thursday.
"The smoke continues to pour into the atmosphere, it's getting picked up, and so it's moving, say, from source, to say Fredericton, and probably in the order of two and a half to three days."
People would have seen an extremely orange sun at times this week, caused by the layers of cloud and smoke.
"It's passing through a bunch of those layers of smoke … and you get, you know, quite a remarkable look," said Wiens, who also has a background in smoke forecasting.
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Wildfire smoke that's made its way from Western Canada to New Brunswick can have an impact on air quality, NB Lung warns.
Melanie Langille, the CEO of NB Lung, said wildfire smoke affects everyone to some degree since "there's no safe level of air pollution."
But some people are more at risk than others.
For example, seniors, infants, pregnant people, young children and people with chronic health conditions are all more at risk, she said.
Langille said it's helpful for people to check the air quality health index on Environment Canada to plan their days.
The air quality health index provides a number from one to 10 plus, with one to three being low risk, four to six being moderate, seven to 10 being high risk and 10 plus being very high risk.
"I'm a very mild asthmatic, but I notice that I have an increase in my symptoms even when the [index] is like three, so I choose not to go outside for a run on those days," Langille said.
"When air quality is poor, we recommend that people, as much as possible, stay inside and, you know, try to protect yourself from it or reduce your exposure to it."
She said NB Lung also has a large supply of N95 masks that people can request on the group's website in case New Brunswick's air quality gets worse.
The most recent Health Canada report from 2024 says that above-background air pollution in 2018, including air pollution from human sources in North America, contributed to 17,400 premature deaths in Canada.
The 2021 report put the 2016 estimate at 15,300 premature deaths.
Langille finds that a concerning jump.