Air quality was still considered “poor” in Montreal on Monday, the day after a historic episode of smog due to forest fires. The situation will improve in the afternoon, but Montreal Public Health warns from the outset that it is “preparing for other episodes” of the kind this summer.
The main reason for this improvement is a change in the direction of the winds in the last few hours, which is now pushing the smoke from the fires and its fine particles further north-east of the province, indicates Jean-Philippe Bégin, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
“In the next few hours, we will see an improvement. Smog warnings are likely to be lifted sometime this afternoon,” he says.
Showers this morning in Montreal and on the North Shore also helped to “clean” the air, capturing fine particles from the forest fires that have been burning for several weeks now in the north of the province, at a rate rarely seen.
The wind, meanwhile, is only “moving” the problem to the northeast of the province, in the Témiscamingue region, where air quality is likely to suffer in the coming hours, also underlines Jean -Philippe Begin. Sunday morning, the air quality index in downtown Montreal had reached 407. It is considered bad from 51.
According to the IQair site, which lists the air quality in the main cities of the world, the Quebec metropolis was Sunday at the forefront of the sad list of cities with the most polluted air in the world.
Monday noon, Montreal was still at the top of the rankings, with an index of 151, just behind Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Other episodes in sight?
“This summer, we have a fairly exceptional fire situation, so we are preparing for other episodes”, concedes for her part the DD Chérine Zaïm, medical consultant in environmental health at the Montreal Regional Public Health Department (DRSP). “When that happens, the main thing is to follow the instructions: we move our activities indoors, we close the air exchangers and we avoid physical activities,” she says.
In times of smog, the instructions are “particularly important” for vulnerable people, who have heart problems among others, but also for children and the elderly, says the DD Zaim. “Overall, you have to listen well to your body and take care of yourself,” she illustrates.
Sunday was really an exceptional situation with a very high concentration of fine particles. The cough, the irritated eyes, all these symptoms, it was very obvious in the population.
DD Chérine Zaïm, environmental health consultant at the DRSP
The Montreal DRSP also recalls that fabric masks are not used to filter fine particles from forest fires. “The N95, that said, is a good way to protect yourself, especially during very high concentrations as we saw in Abitibi, for example,” concludes the medical advisor.
Yes or no for fireworks?
Discussions would also be underway regarding the International des Feux Loto-Québec, in the current context. Public Health did not wish to comment on the subject on Monday. In mid-June, The Press reported that these large pyrotechnic shows alone were responsible for 5 of the 33 days of poor air quality in 2022 in Montreal, or 15% of the total. La Ronde, responsible for the event, indicated on Monday that it was “very sensitive to the concerns raised with regard to the fireworks, whether it is about environmental impact or the link which is established between active forest fires”. . “We are evaluating the situation with the City of Montreal and are awaiting directives from Public Health to find out if our first pyromusical show this Thursday can take place,” said La Ronde spokesperson Carole Bricault.