Smoke from B.C. Interior wildfires raises air quality concerns for Metro Vancouver

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Wildfires in the B.C. Interior are going to start affecting how we breathe here in Metro Vancouver.

While the modelling shows the prevailing winds in the Interior moving much of the wildfire smoke toward the east, Amy Thai with Metro Vancouver’s Air Quality Team says they do expect the smoke to begin invading the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland sometime Friday.

However, she says at this point, it’s too early to determine how bad it may end up being.

“As [we’ve] seen, wildfire behaviour can be quite erratic and models that we trust, usually just run for a day or two,” she explains. “But of course, we’ll be monitoring the situation closely and if needed, we will be issuing an air quality advisory.”

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And while the South Coast could be shielded from the worst of the smoke, much of the B.C. Interior is expected to be ashtray-like moving into the weekend.

“If you are to the southeast of those fires, you’re going to be under the smoke and that in the immediate future is the Okanagan down through the southeastern parts of the province,” NEWS 1130 Meteorologist Michael Kuss says.

He adds the weather and pattern doesn’t bode well, noting there isn’t much rain in the forecast for the Interior.

Metro Vancouver is also keeping watch on the fires burning in Northern California, which created major air quality concerns during last year’s fire season.