Smoke from Canadian wildfires continued to obscure Vermont skies on Friday as the Department of Environmental Conservation issued another air quality alert for the northwest portion of the state. The alert, which includes the counties of Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle, is set to end at midnight.
An expanded alert will be issued by the agency Saturday, according to the National Weather Service office in Burlington. The air quality alert will last from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and cover the counties of Caledonia, Chitteden, Essex, Franklin, Grand Isle, Lamoille, Orleans and Washington.
“It’s a moderate level of pollutants, so it’s not going to affect everybody, but it’s mainly for sensitive groups like people with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children,” said Peter Banacos, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service’s office in Burlington. While rain is helping to drown out the particulates, smoke that’s hovering over the St. Lawrence Valley could move into northern Vermont over the weekend, according to Banacos.
Those tiny particles within the smoke, known as fine particulate matter or PM 2.5, can get trapped in people’s lungs before entering their bloodstream, causing possible health problems. The wildfire smoke brings elevated concentrations of those particles that can be unhealthy for sensitive groups like older adults and children, pregnant people, outdoor workers and people living outside.
People with asthma should keep their relief medicine nearby, and if residents experience scratchy eyes or throat, a headache or coughing, they’re encouraged to move indoors, according to a media release from the Department of Environmental Conservation on Friday.
On Friday afternoon, the air quality for much of the state was good, and residents could enjoy outdoor activities. But in Burlington and St. Albans, the Environmental Protection Agency’s fire and smoke map indicated that the levels of PM 2.5 were above 100 on the air quality index, meaning the air was unhealthy for those sensitive groups.
The smoke has migrated from more than 200 wildfires churning through Canada, with six new fires starting Friday. Canada faces an especially severe and early start to its fire season, as more severe wildfires become more common under climate change, which is primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels. While 69 fires are burning in British Columbia, more than 100 have consumed the country’s less fire-prone prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
“With these wildfires so far removed from Vermont, we’re not expecting real significant issues,” Banacos said. He recalled worse conditions in 2022, when wildfires raging in Quebec brought thick, low-level smoke to Vermont that reduced visibility and increased air quality issues. “If we get fires that are closer, that could change,” Banacos said.
The worst effects are across the Great Lakes, where smoke has settled over major cities like Detroit and Toronto, but unhealthy air has traveled as far south as Florida this week.
