Thick smoke in the Alberni Valley, lasting days

Observation by Tom Okey

I've owned my house in Port Alberni for 10 years, and I've never seen smoke like this, except possibly last summer. The mountains up the valley are not visible. I have tried to stay indoors, but I rode my bike yesterday, and I really felt the smoke in my lungs. I can feel it even just stepping outside. Update: Much of August has been smokey, including August 17th, 19th, and today the 20th. We have purchased surgical masks from the drugstore for when we go outside, but my kids and I are staying indoors to minimize our exposure to the small (harmful) smoke particles. It appears that most other people in Port Alberni are also staying indoors, and keeping their kids indoors. We have been watching the western BlueSky Canada Smoke Forecasting System, FireSmoke.ca Smoke Forecast models for Western Canada and the Real-time Air Quality Index for Port Alberni. The forecast at the latter index over the next two days is for hazardous and very unhealthy conditions. News reports indicate that conditions are far worse in parts of the interior or BC. There are multiple news media reports of smoke-related poor of quality across BC due to fires (see related articles).