By Charles Lefebvre

Little risk of smoke from B.C. wildfires in Medicine Hat

Jul 12, 2017 | 4:37 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Air quality in Medicine Hat has not yet been impacted by wildfires burning in British Columbia.

Alberta Health Services have issued air quality advisories for Edmonton, Red Deer, Jasper, Hinton and Edson as a result of smoke drifting into the province from the wildfires in B.C.’s interior.

Southern Alberta and Medicine Hat have been spared the worst of the smoke from the fires. As of 3 p.m., some smoke was present in the city, but it’s expected to drift away as the jet stream continues to move north.

“The fires that are going on right now, the clusters around and near Williams Lake in B.C., the winds are generally blowing the smoke from those fires more into the central part of the province,” said Dan Kulak with Environment Canada, over the phone from Edmonton. “The wind shift would have to be significant to bring it more to the southern part of the province, and we don’t see that in the next few days here.”

Kulak says there are other fires in B.C. burning in the southern part of the province, and says, depending on how the fires evolve, some smoke could find its way into southern Alberta.

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Medicine Hat’s air quality index has been sitting at Level 2 for much of Wednesday, which means there is a low risk for respiratory problems for residents. Kulak says he doesn’t anticipate any changes to the air quality in the next several days.