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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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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