Not only is our area dealing with the heat and humidity, there’s wildfire smoke wafting in.
“Smoke drift from fire activity in Northwestern Ontario and the United States is drifting into the Northeast Region and Central Ontario, and may affect air quality in many parts of the fire region,” says Isabelle Chenard, MNR Communications and Media Relations Specialist. “This includes North Bay and surrounding areas.”
She adds residents may notice an odour of smoke, a haze in the sky and the sun may have a red appearance when wildland fire smoke drifts.
For air quality alerts, consult the Environment Canada website at: https://www.airqualityontario.com/aqhi/
The province of Ontario is currently responding to 160 active wildland fires, the majority of which are in the Northwest Region.
The fire hazard is high to extreme across much of Ontario.
A Restricted Fire Zone went into effect early Wednesday morning for the Northwest Region of the province and a portion of the Northeast region.
Officials cite the high to extreme fire hazard, increased wildfire activity, the current fire load and efforts to reduce the number of human-caused wildfires.
As of Tuesday evening, there are 148 wildfires burning in the northwest, along with 37 in the northeast.
