(WXYZ) — Massive wildfires in both western and central Canada will bring smoke to metro Detroit on Friday and it could arrive again early next week.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) has issued statewide air quality advisories due to the ongoing wildfires.
EGLE reports the advisories are for Friday and into Saturday morning. Conditions could be unhealthy for sensitive groups, according to EGLE.
“The 2023 Canadian wildfire event emphasized how important communication is when wildfire smoke may impact Michigan’s communities,” said Annette Switzer, EGLE’s Air Quality Division director, in a statement. “We want to ensure residents are informed and know how to protect themselves and their families.”
You can sign up for alerts for your area by clicking here: https://www.enviroflash.info/signup.cfm
Check the air quality index here: https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/
There are more than 160 wildfires burning across Canada as of Thursday, and about half are uncontrolled, according to a report from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.
There is also an extreme risk of wildfires for much of Canada.
See more information in the video below from Keenan Smith
“We want Michigan families to know how to best take precautions to protect their health and safety during air quality events,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive, in a statement. “We urge Michiganders to check the Air Quality Index regularly to decide if they should be participating in outdoor activities and use the website to help determine what actions they should take to keep themselves and their families safe.”
To learn more about wildfire impacts on people's health, we spoke with Dr. Meilan Han, professor and chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the University of Michigan. She said experts are expecting more air quality advisories this summer as wildfire events have been increasing.
"With the increase in wildfire activity anticipated both now and for the rest of the summer, it is a concern that the air quality in Michigan is going to get a lot worse, particularly over (this) weekend. And we do know as air quality gets worse, it makes it much harder for people to breathe," Han said.
Watch our full interview with Dr. Meilan Han in the video player below:
She also explained what happens to air quality during wildfires.
"So wildfires actually create a couple of things that can make it difficult to breathe and are all apart of the air quality index," Han said.
She said what experts keep an eye on and what gets impacted are PM2.5 — tiny particulate matter — as well as carbon monoxide and ozone.
Since air quality varies with location, Han suggests checking air quality in a particular area. That can be done on websites like airnow.org or weather apps.
"Good, somewhere between 0 and 50. Between 50 and 100 is acceptable but starts to get high. Once you get to the 100 to 150, if you're in a sensitive group, you want to stay inside. And 150 and above is bad for everybody," Han said.
