As the smoke from wildfires settled into the air space of Greater Victoria on Monday the reading from the air quality monitor hanging off the back of Ian GillespieB次元官网网址檚 house shot up to 280 .
Granted, the lack of air quality is no state secret. From Saanich, you couldnB次元官网网址檛 see Victoria, let alone to the end of most streets. Not only could you feel the smoke going into your lungs, you could practically wave your hand through it. The effects are . At this level the smoke can be harmful to people living with asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis. The province makes updates available at .
Victoria, are you there? Smoky skies to continue on Vancouver Island.
B次元官网网址� Saanich B次元官网网址 (@saanichnews)
But thereB次元官网网址檚 another place to check air quality. ItB次元官网网址檚 called SensorUp, and it relies on members of the public to install and plug in air quality monitors, which then relay instant updates via wifi to an .
Gillespie, a psychiatrist who chairs a health promotion committee with Doctors of B.C., came across the SensorUp air quality monitors on a trip to Calgary. He ended up acquiring a batch of the monitors from SensorUp and distributed them to interested behind setting them up the monitors seen in Greater Victoria.
While still not visible to the human eye, the particulate matter that weB次元官网网址檙e breathing in is quite sizable. A quick backgrounder on PM2.5, it stands for particulate matter thatB次元官网网址檚 2.5 micrometers in size. A human hair is usually about 70 micrometres in diameter.
VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 readout so far is still much lower than what was being reported in Kamloops, which has been B次元官网网址渧ery unhealthyB次元官网网址� with PM2.5 readings as high as 483 over the past 10 days. Anything over 35 PM2.5 is considered unhealthy for sensitive people and anything over 55 PM2.5 is considered unhealthy for the general population.
B次元官网网址淢y 13-year-old son is at [summer camp] this week, they may have to move inside,B次元官网网址� Gillespie said. B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of research on the effect of inhaling smoke [particulates] from biomass, or wood smoke, in B.C.
B次元官网网址淭he particles are inhaled deeply into the lungs, theyB次元官网网址檙e linked to increased rates of heart attacks.B次元官网网址�
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