Montreal annual air quality improving but wildfire caution advised amid dry conditions

The air quality over Montreal has gotten better since earlier this week when smoke from forest fires drifted over the city. It’s a relief to authorities who have been working hard to reduce annual air pollution.

On Wednesday the city’s executive committee adopted the 2022 Air Quality Report for Montreal, and the results are encouraging.

“We monitored 33 days of poor air quality in Montreal for the whole year of 2022,” said Marie-Andrée Mauger, the executive committee member responsible for the environment.

That’s more than the number of days of bad air measured in the two previous years at the height of the pandemic, when there were fewer cars on the road, she said, but it’s better than in 2019.

“In 2019 we monitored 39 days of poor air quality, so if we compare to 2019, the air quality has improved,” she pointed out.

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The number of smog days last year was also fewer, at just four, than it was before 2020 when there was an average of 11, all occurring during the winter months.  Mauger credits that drop to the ban on wood-burning appliances in 2018.

City officials say they will continue to focus on improving the quality of air.

“By planting more trees, having green spaces, because (trees) capture the pollution and it helps the quality of air,” Mayor Valérie Plante explained.

But forest fires are also on the mind of authorities given the number raging in the province, and they want to make sure every precaution is taken to prevent fires in the city, because there are risks.

“(Like) cigarettes that might be left out or thrown somewhere and then it starts,” the mayor noted, “especially if people are going for a walk in the park.  So, we are really preoccupied with this.”

Montreal fire department division chief Martin Guilbault is also urging caution.

“The important thing about forest fires is that they are usually human-caused, so be careful,” he urged.  “It’s dry right now.”

So no open fires, he warns, and dispose of cigarette butts properly.

Everyone, the city stresses, has a responsibility to protect the environment.

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