Wildfire smoke like a ‘chemical soup’: researcher
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A researcher studying wildfires in Western Canada says inhaling smoke from a forest blaze can be equal to smoking a couple packs of cigarettes a day depending on its thickness.
University of Alberta renewable resources professor Mike Flannigan says the smoke is like a “chemical soup” that can be trapped in the lungs and cause a number of problems.
Sarah Henderson of the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control says people should protect themselves from the smoke by spending time indoors, using air filters and not exercising strenuously when outside.
Both Flannigan and Henderson will speak at the B-C Lung Association’s annual workshop on air quality and health today — and their presentations are timely after two extreme forest fire seasons in B-C in 2017 and 2018.
