CK Public Health warns that there are high levels of air pollution in Chatham-Kent for at least Tuesday and Wednesday.
Smoke from forest fires in northeastern Ontario and Quebec has moved into our area, officials report.
Conditions are expected to improve for some areas on Thursday night. However, until that time, our air quality is low.
As a result, municipal officials ask that residents not do any open-air burning for the time being.
“Currently, there is no burn ban in place, however, due to the low air quality across C-K, we are asking residents to not participate in any type of open-air burning at this time,” assistant fire chief Ken Labonte said in a media release. “Officials are monitoring the situation and we would like to thank everyone for their co-operation as we wait for conditions to improve.”
Wildfire smoke can be harmful to everyone’s health, even at low concentrations, according to CK Public Health. Additionally, people with lung disease (such as asthma) or heart disease, older adults, children, pregnant people, and people who work outdoors are at higher risk of experiencing health effects caused by wildfire smoke.
