- Haze from 104 St. Ctsy: Ryan Jespersen
I feel like I’m in a dream sequence…you know like in movies. Things are hazy, kind of out of focus…but I usually don’t smell like campfire in these scenes in my head.
Edmonton is enveloped in smoke. The perfect storm of weather systems trapped the B.C. haze here in Alberta. It’s worse in Red Deer and Calgary where air quality is very poor. As I’m writing this, Edmonton is listed as fair.
Some people are finding it harder to breathe, others are losing their voices. Here at City TV, we turned off the air conditioning to keep the smoke out of the fresh air intakes.
Alberta Health Services warn people with respiratory conditions to stay indoors. I have found that’s easy to do. I drive from my attached garage to the underground CityTV lot…I could go days without going outside and smelling like roasted marshmallow. That indoor isolation may be great in this circumstance, but obviously not in others. People living suburban lives, like me, often miss out on the new birds who move into their yard, and greeting neighbours with a smile and a wave everyday. But that’s a different blog.
Will using a mask help in the smoke?
I’ve seen a few people continuing their exercise routine despite the fog. Some are wearing masks. Do they help? Well I did some research. The Alaska Public Health Department says most don’t. “It must be able to filter very small particles (around 0.3 to 0.1 microns), and it must fit, providing an airtight seal around the wearer’s face. Paper “comfort” or “dust” masks commonly found at hardware stores are designed to trap large particles, such as sawdust. These masks will not protect your lungs from smoke. “ Wet towels and bandannas also don’t work well. Respirator masks can filter some particulate, but they have issues as well. For more information, here’s the website. Hopefully the smoke settles before we need to go out and buy one.
http://www.epi.hss.state.ak.us/eh/wildfire/FAQ_FireSmoke.pdf