Navigating the haze: how to reduce the health risk from B.C. wildfire smoke

Smoke from the hundreds of wildfires burning across British Columbia has covered much of the province’s interior in a thick haze.

Sarah Henderson, an environmental scientist with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, said people need to be aware of air conditions and take precautions against potential health concerns that can be associated with smoky air.

“Primarily, it is a mixture of gases and very small particles and although the gases and the particles can have health effects, it’s the really small particles we worry about the most,” Henderson said.

According to Henderson, the smaller the particles, the deeper they can be drawn into the lungs. From there, they can transfer into the bloodstream and trigger an immune response.

“Your body treats smoke as a foreign invader like it would a bacterium or a virus but it can’t kill smoke because smoke is not alive so it puts you into this state of inflammation, and that inflammation is just hard on the whole body,” Henderson said.

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That inflammation can be particularly hard on people with chronic conditions like asthma, heart disease or diabetes.

Pregnant women, young children, infants and the elderly may also be at risk, Henderson said.

Henderson suggests people at risk should “look for indoor environments that might be less smoky.”

“Some of those might include shopping malls, community centres, libraries, places where they have big filtration systems.”

Other advice includes:

– Avoid physical exertion since it only makes you breathe the smoke in deeper
– Keep hydrated as it helps your body deal with inflammation
– If you have a chronic condition, you should have rescue medication on hand at all times

In addition to warnings in B.C., Alberta Health Services (AHS) has issued a precautionary air quality advisory for the Edmonton area.

AHS says air quality is expected to be variable over the next few days and possibly weeks as the result of the wildfires.

– With files from Linda Aylesworth, Kirby Bourne and The Canadian Press