Do you know about the health damage long-term wildfire smoke exposure can cause?

Bad air quality is linked to poor health outcomes and the development or worsening of some diseases like asthma, coughs, headaches, infections, COPD, as well as cancers.

Smoky days from wildfires in the spring and summer are sadly becoming the norm in Western Canada, and the hidden impact it can have on your health is something that shouldn’t be ignored, health officials say.

Bad air quality is linked to poor health outcomes and the development or worsening of some chronic diseases.

“Things like asthma, cough, headaches — we know that over time (smoke exposure) can increase your risk of things like respiratory infections. It can also increase your risk for long-term disease like lung cancer if you have high exposure,” said Jamie Happy, the health promotion coordinator with Alberta Lung.

June 4 is Clean Air Day in Canada and Happy said right now, the awareness they are trying to raise is especially important as fires blaze across the west.

“Air quality is important because we all breathe every day, every minute of every day,” said Salina Fairbank, the engagement coordinator with Alberta Capital Airshed.

The not-for-profit organization monitors air quality in the Edmonton region and the data collected at the Alberta Capital Airshed’s continuous monitoring stations is used to help calculate the Air Quality Health Index, or AQHI.

The AQHI indicates the level of pollution in a community. A rating of 1-3 is low risk, 4-6 is moderate risk, 7-10 is high risk and over 10 is very high risk.

“Clean air quality is definitely becoming more of an awareness concern because we are experiencing more wildfire seasons that are increasing,” Happy said. “They’re longer, they start earlier, they get worse. We’re noticing a lot more air quality alerts.