Despite the growing number of wildfires in Newfoundland and Labrador and across Canada, the provincial and federal governments still aren’t monitoring air quality in Labrador to the extent they are across the rest of the province and country.
Months before fires drove thousands of residents out of Churchill Falls and Labrador City this summer, and almost a year after Labrador experienced one of its worst wildfire seasons on record, the province was making plans to install low-cost air quality monitors across the Big Land.
But the monitors, which were funded by the federal government and sent to the province last spring, still aren’t in place.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) told The Independent the federal government “provided financial and technical support to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, for the installation of 22 low-cost sensors.” Fifteen of those “are intended to be installed in locations across Labrador depending on the availability of onsite infrastructure and personnel,” spokesperson Samantha Bayard said in an emailed statement.
To date, just one sensor linked to the federal pilot project has been installed in Labrador. But the sensor, which was set up at the hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay in September 2023, went offline less than two months later due to “technical challenges […] including reliable wifi access that could not be resolved easily,” another ECCC spokesperson explained in an email.
A PurpleAir sensor was installed at the Labrador Grenfell Health Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay on Sept. 8, 2023 but went offline on Oct. 31, 2023 due to “technical challenges,” according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, “including reliable wifi access that could not be resolved easily.” Photo: Labrador Grenfell Health.
Throughout the summers of 2023 and 2024, smoke drifting eastward from wildfires in Labrador, Quebec and elsewhere in Canada has exposed Labrador communities to potentially lethal airborne toxins.
An air quality monitoring station in Labrador City, originally installed by the Iron Ore Company of Canada to monitor air quality near its mine and later upgraded for use by the federal government, provides the community with real time local air quality data.
On August 16, Labrador City issued a “Wildfire Smoke Alert” for “Central and Western Labrador” on its Facebook page, using the data gathered by ECCC through the community’s monitoring station to warn residents that the smoke from nearby wildfires “is expected to intermittently reduce air quality until Saturday afternoon.”
The alert also informed residents that “fine particles in the smoke pose significant health risks, especially to seniors, pregnant individuals, children, outdoor workers, and those with existing health conditions.” Residents were advised to limit outdoor activities, use masks, and check on vulnerable individuals. “If you experience symptoms such as eye irritation or chest pain, seek medical attention.”
But Labrador City was not supposed to be the only community with access to local air quality data. More than a dozen other sensors that would have provided other Labrador communities with critical information were not installed, including in Innu and Inuit communities where residents face higher rates of respiratory illnesses like asthma and bronchitis.
Pilot project began in 2018
In 2023, months before what would become Canada’s worst wildfire season on record, John McKay was working to install low-cost sensors across the Northwest Territories.
McKay, an air quality technologist with the territorial government, says the aim was to install at least one sensor in each of the territory’s 33 communities, regardless of how many people live there. The smallest community, Kakisa, has fewer than 40 residents.
Finding people in each community to install the sensors presented a logistical challenge, he says, so the N.W.T. department of health and social services hired someone to do it.
“I gave them the sensors, and they provided the means in which to transport them and work with citizens across the Northwest Territories to get them connected, whether it was to a house or a nursing station or to fire outposts, a place that had internet power,” he explains.
N.W.T. residents in 31 of the 33 communities now have online access to real-time air quality information for all active monitors, and McKay says they are in the process of finalizing installation in the two remaining communities.
But the idea didn’t come out of nowhere.
In 2018, to begin filling in gaps in Canada’s air quality monitoring regime, the federal government launched the Low-cost Sensor Pilot Project to begin testing low-cost devices, a relatively new technology, that gather air quality data and transmit the information via wireless internet connections. British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia were the first provinces to join the project. Around the same time, the federal environment department said, a national working group was formed and all provinces and territories were invited to participate.
PurpleAir sensors are being used around the world to monitor local air quality, including by a growing number of residents and municipalities in North America. Photo: PurpleAir/Instagram.
The project’s most commonly-used devices are called PurpleAir sensors – the ones installed throughout the Northwest Territories. Just a few inches in size, they measure fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke and can alert governments and residents to health risks in their neighbourhoods and communities.
Newfoundland and Labrador “contributed to the initial stages of the pilot and were kept informed as the pilot progressed,” Bayard said in ECCC’s emailed statement. In the spring of 2019, the Meteorological Service of Canada — the branch of ECCC leading the project — worked with the province to install a low-cost sensor in Mount Pearl. Then, in the spring of 2022, sensors were installed in Corner Brook and Grand Falls.
After the 2022 wildfire season, which saw 103 recorded fires burn approximately 23,886 hectares — almost all on the island — the feds expanded the project within the province and provided 12 more sensors to the province, just one of which was installed in Labrador. It failed less than two months later and has been offline ever since.
Wildfire smoke is killing people
In July, the province experienced its largest wildfire evacuation when more than 9,600 Labrador City residents were forced to leave their homes as fires approached the community.
That came just weeks after more than 750 residents of Churchill Falls were also told to flee their community and make their way to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, nearly 300km away.
While public attention focused largely on the fires themselves, far less consideration was given to the serious risks wildfire smoke poses to human health.
Health Canada’s website describes wildfire smoke as “a mix of gases, particles and water vapour” that contains things like methane, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and fine particles that “aren’t visible to the human eye and have been linked to a wide range of health effects.”
Dr. Itai Malkin, a public health physician and the medical officer of health for the provincial government, says doctors are especially concerned about the small inhalable particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) in the air.
“Particulate matter has a lot of evidence for some negative health outcomes. So if an individual breathes these particles, they go deep into our lungs, and they can cause irritation and inflammation,” he explains.
Health Canada says wildfire smoke “can travel in plumes in the atmosphere up to several thousand kilometres,” and that exposure to the smoke “is associated with an increase in all-cause mortality as well as exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and increased respiratory infections.”
In 2022 the federal government estimated wildfire smoke resulted in 620 to 2,700 deaths each year from 2013 to 2018.
Canada has experienced record-breaking extreme heat and fires since the years covered in Health Canada’s study, and experts believe more people will die as wildfire seasons intensify due to climate change.
Exposure to air pollutants like fine particulate matter and ozone “increases the risk of adverse health outcomes, ranging from respiratory symptoms to development of disease and premature death,” Health Canada says in a 2022 report. “As the frequency and severity of wildfires are expected to increase due to climate change, emissions from wildfires represent one of the most significant climate-related risks to air quality in Canada.” Graphic: Health Canada.
How air quality monitoring works
Federal and provincial governments collect air quality data through different types of monitoring systems, including air quality monitoring stations and low-cost monitoring sensors.
The National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) Program, a partnership of federal, provincial, territorial and some municipal governments, uses data from 286 sites in 203 communities across the country to, according to its website, “provide accurate and long-term air quality data of a uniform standard across Canada.”
Canada Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) only offers current conditions and forecasts for five communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, one of the reasons why governments and experts say communities should be equipped with low-cost sensors. Graphic: Government of Canada.
Kaitlin Badali, a unit head with Environment Canada’s analysis and air quality division, says the stations’ main purpose is to track long-term changes in air quality on regional and national levels. But because they continuously collect data, they also provide hourly air quality updates to programs like the national Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), which informs when air quality in a region is dangerous to human health while offering recommendations on avoiding risks.
Sarah Henderson, the scientific director of environmental health services at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control, says Canadians should use the index to understand the risks associated with poor air quality in their regions.
But the index can only pull data from areas determined by the provincial and territorial governments, she explains. “They get to decide where they’re going to locate stations within their own provincial or territorial networks.”
While the AQHI only uses data from NAPS stations, websites like AQmap.ca collate data from multiple sources, including low-cost sensors like PurpleAir.
The federal government recommends that residents living in areas that the AQHI does not cover contact their local public health office, ministry of environment, or local lung and asthma associations for available local air quality information and health resources.
“When the only real air quality problem is wildfire smoke, you don’t necessarily need those high-cost sensors,” Henderson says. “What you do need is more of those low-cost sensors because they’re really good at detecting wildfire smoke.”
Badali adds that deploying more low-cost sensors could improve spatial coverage while helping governments make critical decisions.
“If they’re trying to decide if they should put through an evacuation order in the case of a wildfire, these little-cost sensors can help them make some, you know, informed decisions.”
Smoke from distant wildfires contributed to a hazy sky in this August 2024 photo from Voisey’s Bay, Labrador. Health Canada says wildfire smoke doesn’t have to be thick, and people don’t have to be close to a fire, for the smoke to impact human health. Photo: Lester Strong / Facebook.
Air quality monitoring in NL
The Labrador City monitoring station is located at the town’s fire hall. It originally monitored air quality for pollutants from the iron ore mine. Environment Canada later added an ozone and PM2.5 monitor to the station to collect AQHI data for the area.
Newfoundland, meanwhile, has six NAPS stations — in St. John’s, Mount Pearl, Grand Falls-Windsor, Burin, Corner Brook, and Port au Choix. Information from four of those (Burin, Corner Brook, St. John’s, and Grand Falls-Windsor) is used to report the daily AQHI.
The department of health and community services told The Independent in an email that discussions about installing the low-cost monitors in Labrador began in March 2024, and that 15 monitors are now slated to be installed throughout the mainland portion of the province.
“There is ongoing work on connectivity and creating external electrical outlets that is a precursor for the installation and activation of the 15 monitors,” the department said on August 8, explaining that NL Health Services “has been asked to prioritize the installation” in light of the wildfires.
“To streamline the process, the current plan is to install the sensors near hospitals, health centres, and clinics, which are public infrastructure.”
But internal emails obtained by The Independent through an access to information request reveal provincial public health officials discussed installation of PurpleAir sensors in Labrador as early as August 2023, around the time the N.W.T. were already using their sensors amid a record-breaking fire season. The internal emails also reveal NL Health Services was not prepared to install the sensors when they arrived ahead of the 2024 wildfire season.
On June 14, 2024, Manager of Environmental Public Health Douglas Howse emailed Public Health Director Alison Tucker noting that “in August 2023” the department “had assurances” that a maintenance supervisor for NL Health Services community clinics in Labrador would be able to install the sensors.
When those sensors finally arrived in Labrador in April 2024, Morgan Elliott, the maintenance supervisor tasked with overseeing the installation of the 15 devices, cautioned Howse that WiFi connectivity could be an issue at some of the clinics.
After Howse shared installation instructions with Elliott that same day, Elliott responded that the installation “is a lot more complicated than I originally thought,” explaining he does “not think that these will work at our remote sites with the current wi-fi connections/resources that we have in place.”
Elliott then recommends the IT department get involved.
Howse responds, pointing out that since the device in Happy Valley-Goose Bay was successfully installed and operational at the hospital before its eventual failure, “it can be done.”
Howse followed up with Elliott three weeks later, asking if there is a plan to install the PurpleAir sensors, noting “it would be great to have at least some of these devices installed before we enter the forest fire season.”
Elliott responded the same day, April 26, reiterating to Howse that “our IM&T Department will need to be involved prior to connecting any device to Wi-Fi at the Clinics.
“Our Maintenance Staff are there, if needed, to aid with mounting the devices (not setting them up or activating) or arranging electrical connections where needed,” he adds in the email.
Elliott carbon-copied two members from the department’s information management and technology office, “so they can weigh in with input regarding wi-fi connections/availability at the clinics for these devices or the possibility of IM&T staff completing the installs.”
“Thanks Morgan,” Howse responded 22 minutes later. “I look forward to having these devices up and running. Have a good weekend.”
There doesn’t appear to have been any further email correspondence between Howse and Elliott for weeks, until Howse followed up with Elliott on June 12, 2024 asking for an update. “I’m sure there would be some heightened interest in expanded air quality monitoring given that we have entered wildfire season,” Howse says in the email.
Two days later, he requested that Elliott “expedite the installation of one of the PurpleAir monitors at the Churchill Falls Community Clinic, given the wildfires in the general area.”
That same day, June 14, Elliott responded: “As I already mentioned, we do not have qualified staff or the Wi-fi connections to install these devices. The devices will now be returned to [the federal government] unless you want them sent elsewhere. Please advise where you want them sent.”
It was after the 10-week back-and-forth between Howse and Elliott that Howse emailed Tucker quoting an August 2023 message he says came from Caroline Boyden, who serves as “Director of Operations/Regional Director Rural & Remote Health” for NL Health Services according to a LinkedIn profile featuring her name and photo.
“I have liaised with Morgan Elliott our Supervisor for Maintenance in the Community Clinics and he does not foresee there being any problems installing these either at our clinics or possibly at some of our accommodation buildings where we do not have our own wifi installed at the clinic site (e.g. Natuashish Clinic and Mani Ashini Clinic based in Sheshatshiu),” Howse quotes Boyden as saying. “I have included him in this email as he would be a contact point for the clinics. It should also be possible at the Labrador South Health Centre.”
By that time, the Town of Churchill Falls began posting updates about the wildfires near the community. Some of them included links to “some interactive fire, smoke, and weather maps that you might find helpful.”
Since an air quality sensor still had not been installed in Churchill Falls, residents did not have access to local air quality data.
The Independent asked the Department of Health and Community Services why NL Health Services was not adequately prepared to install the sensors before they arrived in Labrador, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
AQmap.ca shows the positions and statuses of air quality monitors across Canada. The graphic illustrates how Labrador is among the most under-serviced regions in the country. Screenshot: AQmap.ca / Sept. 19, 2024
The health risks of wildfire smoke
Smoke can travel hundreds of kilometres, and Newfoundland and Labrador is particularly susceptible to wildfire smoke from other provinces, with prevailing air currents moving from west to east.
Some short-term effects of inhaling wildfire smoke include coughing, headaches, shortness of breath, and fatigue. Longer-term exposure can result in a higher risk of developing lung cancer and brain tumours, lower cognitive performance, and worsening lung and heart health. Studies on the long-term effects of smoke are limited and experts say the link to cancer needs to be further studied.
The risks are particularly concerning for vulnerable populations, including the elderly, pregnant women, children, and those with pre-existing lung and heart conditions, says Malkin.
“We also worry about individuals who live alone or have a physical impairment, or experience homelessness,” he said.
When wildfire smoke is evident in the air, Malkin suggests wearing N95 masks when going out to avoid inhaling excess smoke. At home, he advises locking doors and windows. In the meantime, he says, residents should prepare an emergency evacuation kit that includes medicine, a spare cell phone, an N95 mask, and a water bottle — not only in the event of a wildfire, but also for times when air quality becomes dangerous.
At the time of this story’s publication, air quality data is being gathered from 18 sites on the island, according to AQmap.ca, a website that collates data from government, industry and private sources.
Labrador still has just one sensor feeding information to the same database.
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Publish date : 2024-09-19 23:16:00
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