Anne Pegg has never seen wildfire smoke linger for so long in the northeastern Ontario mining town of Kirkland Lake, where she’s lived for more than 40 years.
Outside her window, the 71-year-old said she sees nothing but hazy skies caused by a number of wildfires burning around her community, triggering special air quality statements across northern and eastern Ontario and causing high levels of air pollution.
“It’s affecting a lot of people in different ways,” Pegg said in a phone interview on Monday as wildfires burned near Watabeag Lake, only about an hour’s drive northwest from her home.
“I was getting some prescriptions delivered and the girl was so late bringing them because she has been so busy. She told me, ‘Between the heat and the smoke, the seniors won’t leave their house.'”
Environment Canada says the municipality is expected to be under a blanket of smoke along with other northern and eastern areas such as Sudbury, Elliot Lake and Prescott, due to wildfires in Ontario and Quebec.
The agency says conditions in some parts are not expected to improve until Tuesday night or Wednesday.
Environment Canada says Quebec wildfires are also causing very high levels of air pollution in Ottawa but conditions are expected to improve Monday. The City of Ottawa said on Twitter it was cancelling all outdoor recreational programs and leagues until 4 p.m. due to the smoke.
The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says there are 459 active fires burning across the country. About 236 of them are out of control and almost one-quarter of those fires are in Quebec.
“Wildfire smoke can be harmful to everyone’s health even at low concentrations,” Environment Canada said in its statement.
“Continue to take actions to protect your health and reduce exposure to smoke. People with lung disease (such as asthma) or heart disease, older adults, children, pregnant people, and people who work outdoors are at higher risk of experiencing health effects caused by wildfire smoke.”
Pegg’s son Daniel Pegg, who travels to work at a mine in Manitoba every two weeks, says the streets of Kirkland Lake have been deserted for several days, something he has never seen before.
“We’ve been on evacuation notices before and stuff but never the smoke sticking around for so long,” the 36-year-old said on Monday.
“It’s been just non-stop. It’s thick enough that they’ve been shutting the Kirkland mines down and that’s thousands of workers that are going home,” he said, adding that will surely affect the local economy.
Daniel Pegg said he has been running a Facebook page called “Northern Ontario Information Station,” which has been gaining traction among locals who regularly share what they are seeing.
“People are starting to worry more now,” he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2023.
— with files from Liam Fox