Yuk! What’s With All The Smoke?

For over a week now, residents of Southern Alberta have been dealing with a heavy blanket of smoke. For some it is just an inconvenience, but for others, it is causing severe health issues. On August 24, 2015, Alberta Health Services issued an air quality advisory for the Calgary Zone in full, which includes the City of Chestermere.
“Individuals living in or travelling to the Calgary Zone are advised to be aware of potential health concerns that can be associated with current air conditions. In the current conditions, even healthy individuals may experience temporary irritation of eyes and throat, and possibly shortness of breath”, was part of the statement released by AHS.
AHS recommended that all outside windows and doors be closed and locked, keep the fresh air intake closed on air conditioners, close floor registers and to now use wood burning fireplaces or other smoke producing items during this time. Those with respiratory conditions, the elderly and also children were cautioned further with warnings of staying indoors and limiting their outdoor activities during this time.
By the afternoon of Friday August 28th, the risk level had been decreased to Moderate Risk and conditions continued to improve through the next day as the risk was only considered low on Saturday August 29th.
As most Chestermere residents were hoping to soak up as much outdoor time as possible before the kids head back to school on September 2nd, it was questionable whether outdoor sports and activities would continue as planned with the thick smoke. The Chestermere Chiefs Football program ran ahead with their practice on August 25th, but cautioned parents saying, “After discussion the coaches have decided to go ahead with practice today, asking parents to make the decisions about their player and their ability to practice with the air quality concerns. If your child has allergies to smoke, asthma or lung concerns you will know better than us if he/she should be at practice. Both parents and coaches will watch the players during practice and stop should they be struggling to breath or experiencing discomfort”.
This also raised questions with regards to the start of school and what school staff would do should the smoky conditions still be around when school goes back into session. Bev LaPeare, Trustee with Rocky View Schools, said, “The schools will be monitoring the air quality situation and making decisions based on the level of health impact on the students. Most students will be going outside for recess unless it’s really bad but any student with any kind of respiratory issue would be encouraged to stay inside if the air quality is poor. We would encourage parents to let the school know if they feel at any time that their child needs to stay in due to any kind of health concern. Health and safety are always our top priority and it’s crucial that we work with parents to make sure that the students’ needs are met”.
As the temperature is expected to slowly start to drop and the forecast calling for rain at the end of the week, it is the hopes of many that the smoke will clear out soon.