Practical tip for those dealing with wildfire smoke now: you can make a very effective air filter for a reasonable amount of money using a box fan & one of those filters meant for your furnace.
Also, I've managed to pick up 2 of the box fans for very cheap/free from yard sales. Make sure you get a filter rated for wildfire smoke, I think this one cost about $20.
These make a huge difference in the indoor air quality.
Posting again because of the fire situation up in Canada and resulting smoke. If you're dealing with wildfire smoke, these are surprisingly effective and relatively cheap.
Just tape the filter to the fan, making sure the air can't sneak around the edges. I used painter's tape, but I'm sure duct tape or similar would work just as well.
You can put it in an open window, if you seal around it so the smoke can sneak in, but you can just put it anywhere in your room that would get good airflow, and it'll work well there. Just don't put it in the closet.
The point is to clean the air for folks who are living where wildfire smoke is making it unhealthy to breathe. It also really helps my allergies!
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People are so shook and making memes about the haze in New York only they just found out about it from New York.
Just because it was in New York.
They're not talking about anywhere else, only in America. So many Canadian cities looked/look exactly the same as New York rn. Alberta's cities are some of them, and it looked horrific.
I see so many memes on social media about how Canada "gave" America the haze, how "Americans are suffering because of Canada", how the "Canadian wildfires are making American cities orange".
20,000 Canadians were forced to leave their homes. 9.4 million acres burned. And yes, cities all over Canada have been washed orange, as are New York and Detroit. NY had the worst air quality in the world yesterday. Millions of animals and flora will perish. My friends, family, and I are extremely worried. We are all worried. This is the earliest fire season I remember.
This is all because of climate change. Something that affects all of us. Why people are making fun of Canada for such a natural disaster is beyond me. So much land, land that INDIGENOUS PPL HAVE WORKED SO HARD TO PROTECT, is gone.
Already 3.3 million hectares of land in Canada has been burning because of the extreme heat and dryness and it’s not even halfway through wildfires season. They’re actually predicting this will be the most destructive wildfire season in Canadian history. But most of what I’ve seen posted about these fires has to do with air quality. So I’ve decided to try and compile a list of resources to donate to help Canadians being affected at this time.
Alberta
The Red Cross which seems to have a donation page for most provinces. Both the Canadian and Alberta government will match each dollar of your donation.
Food Banks Alberta helping to feed those affected.
Disaster Aid Canada general help
Atlantic Canada
The Red Cross which if you donate to both the Canadian and the Nova Scotia government will match each dollar of your donation.
British Columbia
United Way BC supporting communities by giving them things such as food, mental health support, and shelter.
Food banks BC helping to feed those affected.
Canada as a whole
Unite for Change not directly donating to the fires but is working to make changes at a provincial and federal level to help fix the climate crisis which is directly making the fires worse.
Please tell me if you know of any other places taking donations to help either put out the fires or help the people affected. If any of these donation links are also donating to discriminatory policies or such like anti-trans legislation's please inform me so I can remove the link!
Quebec and Ontario links are especially wanted as I couldn't find anything for there and neither could my friend.
If you are on the East Coast and trying to figure out what all of these air quality warnings mean and what you should do, here is what the colors and corresponding AQI numbers mean. The updated AirNow map is at this link:
Edit: this was posted at 10:50am on June 6 2023 and the screenshots were taken around 9am.
documentation day 3 (part three, mental health update): i’m not doing too great. physically, i am showing symptoms of severe smoke inhalation damage. mentally, i’m terrified. health anxiety is something that i struggle with regularly, and it’s only getting worse. not only that, my ptsd is getting worse too. i genuinely think this might be the end. i can feel my lungs not working properly.
the weather apps are all saying that the air quality is improving, but it still smells strongly of smoke outside. it’s supposed to improve tomorrow and then get worse again on friday.
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If you lose your home to a wildfire is the government (provincial, federal, or municipal) required to provide you with a new place to live? And that's of idk the same general size and type? (Like if you had a house they couldn't stick you in an apartment). I only know one person who lost their home to one and they moved provinces to live with family, so I'm not sure if that was due to lack of gov support or just bc it was an easier option for them.
I think government generally gives financial assistance but replacing a burned home would probably go to private insurance for disasters then a guaranteed government program.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada has a special webpage set up with some good general information: www.ibc.ca/disaster/wildfires
As someone who works in insurance, governments will sometimes step in with some aid if it would be bad PR for them not to (I believe in Alberta they're giving a one-time payment of $1000-2000 for people who had to evacuate, for example)... but they are not going to rebuild your house. This will be handled by the insurance companies because this is the exact type of situation that insurance is for.
Unfortunately, since property insurance is not mandatory, a lot of people don't have it and are vulnerable here.
Generally speaking damage from wildfires (or fires of any kind that are not the result of your intentional actions) are covered under a homeowner, condo owner, or tenant policy. The peril of fire is going to be covered even if you have the most limited, basic type of coverage because fire insurance is quite literally the basis of all modern property insurance.
And because I saw something in the replies about this: there is no such thing as an Act of God or Act of Nature exclusion in Canadian property insurance. If you are covered for fire, which like I said above everyone with even the most basic insurance is, you are covered for wildfires.
(Some more detail under the cut)
(Big caveat here that I am a licensed professional in Ontario and, since insurance is a provincial/territorial jurisdiction, the exact nature of regulation will vary slightly. If you have specific questions you should speak to a licensed insurance professional in your province or territory or call the IBC's Consumer Information Centre toll-free number which is included in the link above)
When an insured is displaced, their Additional Living Expenses (may also be called Loss of Use of Dwelling or Coverage D) coverage would respond by providing coverage for living expenses incurred while your primary residence is uninhabitable or under a mass evacuation.
In terms of rebuilding a house it would usually be covered up to the amount specified in the Dwelling Building (may also be called Coverage A) of the homeowners policy. Note that this may be less than the cost it takes to actually rebuild the house because the Dwelling Building amount is only usually only adjusted for inflation which may not align with changes to cost of materials and labour. The best way to protect yourself is to make sure any homeowners policy you have includes an endorsement or clause covering you for Guaranteed Replacement Cost or the equivalent in your jurisdiction. This covers above and beyond Coverage A to rebuild a house of like kind and quality to the one destroyed.
For tenants and condo owners where you're not responsible for the building itself, your property insurance covers loss to your belongings (i.e. if items you left behind in the evacuation were destroyed when the building burnt down).
Also please bear in mind that these fires are catastrophic events where a large number of people are impacted. Every insurance company I know of is deploying extra resources to respond to the situation... but the simple fact is that claims will take longer to adjust and repairs longer to complete because there are only a finite number of adjusters and tradespeople who can do the work. Being frustrated with delays is perfectly understandable but please don't take it out on your adjuster, they are there to help you.
documentation day 3 (part two): the AQHI scale goes to 10. yesterday we hit 14, right now it’s at 25. my school is filled with smoke. i’m on the verge of passing out, i can barely breathe. i have a terrible headache. things are supposed to get worse.
documentation day 3 (part three): i just got back from school. it’s hard to breathe, my throat burns and my chest is incredibly sore. these are all symptoms of smoke damage. all the people i talked to said the same thing. i’m trying so hard not to be scared, but i don’t know how.
it looks like it’s going to storm again. we still haven’t been told what to do. everywhere is covered with smoke.
masks are supposed to help to filter the air, but only the N95s and the P100s. drink lots of water, take hot showers and don’t do any strenuous activity outside.
documentation day 3 (part two): the AQHI scale goes to 10. yesterday we hit 14, right now it’s at 25. my school is filled with smoke. i’m on the verge of passing out, i can barely breathe. i have a terrible headache. things are supposed to get worse.
documentation day 3 (part one): by the time i went to bed (around 1am) the air quality warning had gone down to a moderate health warning. it was actually better than the day before at that time. this morning, it is back to severe health warning. on the AQHI scale, we’re sitting at an 11, which is actually off the chart.
i opened the front door for a moment and a big gust of smoke hit me. it smells strongly of fire, almost worse than yesterday. you can see it in the air more now. there’s this blanket of smoke around everything.
still no word on what to do if things get worse (although this is already very bad). for anyone going through the same thing, drink lots of water, it helps flush out anything you’ve inhaled these past few days.
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people are saying that things are getting better, but it’s not as good as they make it seem. the thunderstorms passed pretty quickly, but they knocked out the power in my neighbourhood for a while. even after the rain, the air was still thick with smoke. we are still under a severe air quality warning.
the amount of canada that is burning is equivalent to the size of belgium. let that sink in for a moment. even after that, people are barely talking about it. the only reason that it’s starting to get media coverage is because some of the smoke reached the u.s
this is not okay. no one knows what to do, everyone is so confused and worried because we haven’t been told anything. we’re seeing the updates about the fires getting closer to us, but we don’t know what to do if they actually get here. it’s scary.
documentation day 2 (part one): i can’t breathe when i go outside. the only thing you can smell is smoke. it’s like you’re standing right next to a campfire. the sky is white again and there is an orange haze over everything. there’s a severe air quality warning. there are over 20 new wildfires in my province now. no one is saying anything, still.
update (8:10am): there are now thunderstorms in the forecast for my city later today.
update (3:57pm): the thunderstorm just started. five minutes ago ash wouldn’t stop falling from the sky. the lightning is terrifying because that’s what could start the fires near us. the storm is insane. the rain came to a dead stop and then the thunder happened. it’s extremely loud.
documentation day 2 (part one): i can’t breathe when i go outside. the only thing you can smell is smoke. it’s like you’re standing right next to a campfire. the sky is white again and there is an orange haze over everything. there’s a severe air quality warning. there are over 20 new wildfires in my province now. no one is saying anything, still.
update (8:10am): there are now thunderstorms in the forecast for my city later today.
update (3:57pm): the thunderstorm just started. five minutes ago ash wouldn’t stop falling from the sky. the lightning is terrifying because that’s what could start the fires near us. the storm is insane. the rain came to a dead stop and then the thunder happened. it’s extremely loud.
The province announced on Sunday that the fire in Tantallon, which destroyed about 200 buildings and caused thousands to evacuate, is now un
After one week of battling a historic wildfire that destroyed about 200 buildings and caused thousands to evacuate in the Halifax area, officials say the blaze in Tantallon is now 100 per cent contained.
Nova Scotia announced in a release on Sunday that the wildfire isn’t entirely extinguished but is currently under control and no longer expected to spread.
In a press briefing on Sunday afternoon, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced that weather conditions have led to a lifting of a province-wide ban on activity and travel in the woods, which will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Monday. The burn ban remains in effect.
Please note that yes, the fire in a heavily populated area is now under control, but there is still another MASSIVE fire covering over 1,000 hectares burning out of control in the province.
we couldn’t see the sun this morning, it was covered by the smog. the entire sky was bright white and orange and everything was covered in a light grey haze. there were times when you could feel the air get thicker. while i was working to work, the air was filled with tiny particles. everyone outside soon realized that this was ash and/or debris. no one is talking about the fires but ash is literally falling from the sky. when i got out of work, the air was even thicker. it was hard to see, like when it’s really foggy outside, except this time, it was smoke.
it’s scary because this is all so unpredictable. my life has always been unpredictable, things are always changing. but that doesn’t make it easier. it’s hard not knowing what’s going to happen, not knowing if you’re going to make it to next week. no one seems to be reacting to what’s going on. it’s scary. people in my province have started evacuating. will i have to do that?
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Wildfires in northwestern Quebec prompted thousands to evacuate the area over the weekend, as the number of blazes pushed past 150 and firef
Wildfires in northwestern Quebec prompted thousands to evacuate the area over the weekend, as the number of blazes pushed past 150 and firefighters and the military poured into parts of the province to fight the encroaching flames -- even as that threat eased slightly Sunday on the North Shore.
Some 5,500 residents of the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region, which borders Ontario, have been relocated, Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel said at a news conference in Montreal.
Another 4,500 people in the North Shore community of Sept-Iles and its outskirts were also forced from their homes due to a pair of wildfires burning north of the city, but no further evacuations are planned at the moment, Bonnardel said.
alright, here goes. hello, everyone. my name is will and i live in canada. right now, half of the country is experiencing severe wildfires. we’ve never had anything like this before. most of the provinces and territories are covered with smoke and/or smog. i don’t know what’s going to happen. every time i look outside, things seem to be getting worse. there was ash and debris falling from the sky earlier.
i am going to be documenting this experience on here, as well as my mental health struggles. just in case anything happens. i doubt anyone will see this, but i want the people that matter to me to know these things.
