This week, the Northwest Territories’ chief public health officer warned that wildfires are causing “very high-risk” drops in air quality for some residents. The smoke is disrupting routines and raising questions about the effects on human health.
Mike Lee is the Yellowknife Multisport Club’s president. The club arranges outdoor events throughout the year and Lee says wildfire smoke was never a concern when he first became involved with the club, five years ago.
Now, he said, smoke interferes on a regular basis.
Lee has had to adapt to changing air conditions with different measures for both personal exercise and the club’s events, sometimes having to delay or cancel activities due to the air quality.
At the start of August, for example, the club had to cancel its half-ironman distance event because Yellowknife had an Air Quality Health Index of 10-plus, the worst on the scale and the highest risk for human health.
“We have to be wary of the athletes and the participants – we are not wanting to force them to go out in the smoke – but also our volunteers, because they’re not necessarily participating athletically but standing there, and I don’t know which is worse,” said Lee.
Frederic Valcin is a senior scientific evaluator at Health Canada’s water and air quality bureau. Valcin describes the Air Quality Health Index as a “simple scale” setting out the risk associated with the air that day. “The higher the number,” Valcin said, “the higher the health risk.”
You can get a summary of the current AQHI values for various N.W.T. communities on this webpage.
Valcin said your increased breathing rate is one reason why air pollution poses a higher risk for people exercising.
“It’s mathematical, you are breathing in more air,” Valcin said. Even compared to doing lighter work in worse air pollution, Valcin said vigorous exercise in moderately poor air is a problem. “You’re inhaling more air that’s moderately polluted, versus doing really light activity at higher levels.”
In his younger days, Lee said, he isn’t sure he would have cared about the smoke. He can picture himself going ahead and running a race anyway. Now, with two children, he prioritizes his health more – and wears a mask, if need be, that he acquired when he worked as a messenger living in Toronto.
“You’re riding in traffic pollution so it’s the kind of mask where you can exhale very easily, but it’s got an N95 filter inside,” he said.
“It ends up being kind-of like lung resistance training, so I don’t mind running with it in the summer or in the smoke. It’s obviously not ideal – but I’m not a treadmill person.”
‘Coughing for days’
Fellow multisport club member Brendan Hancock has spent time this summer training for a half-marathon, running six to seven times a week. He described the effect wildfire smoke has had on his training as “terrible.”
Often, Hancock has had to skip planned workouts or opt to run in the smoke at what he called a “conversation” pace, keeping his heart rate down and his breathing under control.
Hancock said he learned his lesson about pushing himself in smoke following an 18-km run in 2023, before Yellowknife was evacuated. (The city endured days on end of the worst possible air quality that summer.)
“I got home and I was just coughing for days. That is when I was like, OK, I can’t be doing this, I’ve just got to take it lighter,” said Hancock. “That was a bit of a wake-up call.”
Hancock’s wife works in public health and was involved in a study on the effects of wildfire smoke.
“They still need to do some long-term studies but she’s always telling me not to go out, it’s a bad idea,” said Hancock.
“You look at your vehicle after a smoky night, or your porch, and you just see it covered in all the ash and, well, that’s what you’re breathing in.”
Sarah Butson is the chief executive officer of the Canadian Lung Association, a non-profit “working to promote lung health and prevent and manage lung disease.”
Butson said the acute symptoms Hancock described are common for people affected by wildfire smoke. Other effects can include headaches, throat or sinus irritation and, for people already dealing with lung disease, the exacerbation of any existing symptoms.
More long-term research is still needed to better understand the effects of poor air quality like the kind driven by wildfires, Butson said.
“We know that increased exposure is a huge trigger for things like asthma exacerbation and COPD exacerbation,” she said, referring to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition that is a leading cause of hospitalization.
The other challenge wildfire smoke poses, Butson added, is knowing what exactly is in the smoke.
“Part of the concern behind wildfires is the smoke burned through forest fires themselves, but it’s also a concern for the other products that might be being burned as well,” she said.
“That could be items that get burned when homes get burned down, or other items that are in our environment get burned. Now we’re actually breathing in more of a chemical cocktail than we were before. So there’s a real need to really understand that broader scope, too.”
Butson told Cabin Radio N95 masks may help, but the best prevention is to avoid the smoke altogether if you can.
“The top tip is really to arm ourselves with the best information that we can,” she said.
“One of those ways of doing that is to check the Air Quality Health Index. One to three, there’s no need to do anything with your outdoor activities. As we get into that range of seven to 10, people may want to consider scheduling things at a different time when the air quality is better.
“When we get into those times when it’s 10-plus, we strongly encourage – particularly if people are experiencing lung disease symptoms – that they make some changes to their everyday schedule.”
‘This is going to get worse’
Dr. Courtney Howard is a Yellowknife-based emergency physician who also serves as vice-chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.
Howard, who has spent years studying the relationship between our changing climate and human health, highlighted the role of mental health – an issue the multisport club members raised, given the discouragement and frustration they have felt because of wildfire smoke.
“It makes sense to have a multi-pronged approach to keep your bucket full and support your mental health with sensible strategies,” Howard said, listing the likes of getting enough sleep, minimizing outdoor exercise and caffeine, exercising in a clean environment indoors, and hanging out with people you love.
“Allow yourself to feel the feelings,” Howard told Cabin Radio.
“This is not a new norm, and we need to stop saying that, because what that implies is that this year will be the same as next year, as will be the year after. We should absolutely eliminate that language from our vocabulary.
“This is going to get worse year on year. We need to be addressing it as an escalating threat and making investments that understand we need to anticipate a reality where this will become more common.”
Butson said the evidence we have so far demonstrates the need to keep studying what wildfire smoke does to people.
“We know there can be an increased risk of premature mortality and respiratory effects, but we also know there is an impact on the whole body – from neurological conditions to cardiovascular to a whole host of different conditions,” she said.
“We need to continue to invest in research in this area because, unfortunately, it’s not a problem that’s going away.”
