Smoky skies and poor air quality continue to blanket British Columbia as a direct result of wildfires rampaging down the west coast of the United States.
Environment Canada has now issued a smoky skies bulletin, along with air quality warnings for the majority of the Province.
“Smoke impacts due to long-range transport from wildfires in the western United States have already been observed in some areas of Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainland, and portions of the Interior,” reads a bulletin from the weather agency.
Relief will not come as quickly for B.C. residents, with the air quality index showing smoky conditions will improve only marginally by Tuesday.
The index uses a scale of one to 10 to rank risk from stagnant or smoky air and currently lists the risk at 10-plus for all but the northern quarter of B.C.
A dense, fog-like haze shrouds many cities, from Victoria and Vancouver east to Kelowna, Kamloops and the Kootenay region, turning day into a misty, smoke-tainted twilight.
The smoke has travelled north and is working its way eastward across the province from hundreds of unprecedented fires in Washington state, Oregon, and California.
Some communities have been completely destroyed as a result and over three dozen people have been confirmed dead while dozens more are missing.
Washington state Governor, Jay Inslee, said last week that this year has marked the second-worst fire season in state history, happening only in the span of five days.
This has already been the second worst fire season in state history.
It happened in 5 days. pic.twitter.com/6n8LG51pFo
— Governor Jay Inslee (@GovInslee) September 11, 2020
Over 626,000 acres have burned since last Monday, Inslee stated in a tweet on September 11.
“The skies have smoke like you’ve never seen before, except two or three years ago. It’s apocalyptic,” Inslee told ABC’s This Week. “These are not just wildfires, these are climate fires.”
The Washington state governor is urging that residents dramatically change their lifestyle or that these intense “climate fires” will be here to stay in future summers.
For residents in British Columbia, Environment Canada is continuing to urge caution when outdoors, due to the increased health risks.
“Wildfire smoke is a constantly-changing mixture of particles and gasses which includes many chemicals that can harm your health,” reads a statement from the weather agency
The BC Air Quality Health Index rates nearly everywhere in the bottom quarter of the province as having “very high” health risks, as of Monday morning.
Graham Cox
