Environment Canada adopts B.C. model to warn of smoke hazards

Last year's record-breaking wildfire season forced Canadians to become familiar with the scale of air pollution as hazardous smoke drifted across the country.

Environment Canada's colour-coded Air Quality Health Index (AQHI), designed to help people understand health risks associated with contaminated air, was closely watched under hazy, orange skies that stretched beyond the Canada-U.S. border.

But the AQHI, measured on a scale from one to 10+, was not calculated the same way in all provinces and some people were unsure how index values applied to their daily activities.

Environment Canada says it hopes several changes being made this year will improve how air quality-related health risks are communicated and understood by the public during wildfire season.

One of those changes is to the department's go-to website for weather conditions and warnings across the country: weather.gc.ca. Users can now toggle between different layers of active alerts and display only those related to air quality if that's their main concern. Detailed air quality warnings are also listed under a separate tab.

When the AQHI exceeds 10 due to wildfire smoke — indicating a «very high» health risk — affected areas appear red on the map.

A new type of air quality advisory will also be issued to warn of potentially worsening health effects and urge people to seriously consider cancelling outdoor events, said Celine Audette, manager of health and air quality forecast services at Environment and Climate Change Canada.

This change was prompted by a «record number» of AQHI 10+ scores during last year's wildfire season, she said in a phone interview.

That level «exceeds any kind of air quality objective across the world,» Audette said. «It was the worst air