B.C. wildfires led to 'record-breaking year' for poor air quality in Alberta's Industrial Heartland

Last summer's B.C. wildfires saw huge swaths of smoke drift across Alberta. Now,new datafrom a monitoring group in Alberta's Industrial Heartland shows the impact the fires had on the region's air quality.

The Fort Air Partnership monitors air quality in the area northeast of Edmonton, andfound there was a huge jump in the number of monitored hours where the air posed a health hazard.

• Wildfire haze from B.C. raising air quality concerns across Alberta

In 2018, there were 849 hours where the Air Quality Health Indexrating in the the Industrial Heartlandwashigh or very high risk, compared to just 57 hours in 2017.

"That was predominantly due to wildfire smoke in August that impacted the entire capital region," said Nadine Blaney, executive director for the Fort Air Partnership.

The results aren't surprising, she said, largely due to the haze that hovered over the area this summer.

"It was very visible, right, to everybody," said Blaney. "You could smell it, you could see it. And it lasted for a good two weeks."

• Eerie wildfire haze cloaks Edmonton

The smoke blew over from B.C., where an estimated 600 wildfires were burning.

Wildfire smoke increases the level of harmful particles in the air, which can cause health problems, particularly for people with cardiovascular or respiratory conditions.

Last year, there were 957 occurrences where pollutant levelswere too high, based on the province's air quality objectives, Blaney said. Out of those957 occurrences, she said most were caused by the wildfire smoke in August.

"This is definitely a record-breaking year," she said.

"Even in 2016 when we had the Fort McMurray fire, which did impact us as well, we only had 108 exceedances."

August was the worst month for air quality in the region, Blaney said, but air quality readings for the other months of the year were typically of low risk to health.