With the increasing incidence of Interior wildfires wreaking havoc on Lower Mainland air quality during the summer months, the city of Coquitlam is looking at ways it can protect its most vulnerable citizens.
City staff have been asked to look at a range of options, from upgrading air filters in civic facilities to establishing community "clean air shelters" when wildfire smoke is in the region.
For instance, the city of Vancouver is creating respite areas at several public spaces, including select community centres and libraries. And Vancouver Coastal Health encourages residents without access to a home air filter to visit civic facilities and shopping malls, which often have relatively cleaner and cooler air.
"There are some things we could do very quickly and very easy," said Don Luymes, the city's general manager of strategic initiatives. "There are a range of options and we will come back to council with both short-term and long-term solutions."
If Coquitlam moved ahead with a clean air shelter, it would be one of the first municipalities in the Fraser Health region to take such measures.
Wildfire smoke in Metro Vancouver has become increasingly common over the last few summers, with 2017 and 2018 registering as the worst on record.
Last year, fires burning in Washington and the British Columbia Interior caused high concentration of fine particulate matter to move in to the region, raising the health risk index at Coquitlam's monitoring station to 11. Anything over 10 is considered to be "very hazardous" and the elevated numbers persisted for weeks.
Smoke issues have already cropped up in parts of the province this summer, including central B.C., Prince George and the northeast.
