Wildfires are making B.C.'s air quality worse and impacting health
B.C’s air quality is getting worse due to wildfires.
We saw this locally just last week, when Vancouver’s air quality was among the worst in the world due to raging wildfires elsewhere in the province.
A new report from the BC Lung Foundation is highlighting just how damaging wildfire smoke can be to people’s health. Earlier this week, the organization released its 2026 State of the Air Report, emphasizing their concern about wildfire smoke and its negative effects on public health.
Wildfire smoke is a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which are very small particles that can go deep into people’s lungs and cause “immediate harm,” like airway irritation and long-term damage, including heart and lung disease. It contributes to about 1,900 premature deaths in B.C. a year.
The report notes that “different people respond differently to smoke.”
Those who might be particularly vulnerable to it include people with chronic conditions, people who are pregnant, infants and small children, older adults, and people with respiratory infections.
Wildfire smoke is a “leading source of PM2.5”
In the past decade, wildfire smoke has become a “leading source of PM2.5 pollution” in B.C., according to the BC Lung Foundation.
“Annual average PM2.5 levels show clear spikes in major wildfire years, including the record-breaking 2018 season and the unprecedented 2023 and 2024 seasons, when smoke pushed several communities well above the B.C. air quality objective.”
While B.C.’s 2025 wildfire season was less destructive than the 2023 and 2024 seasons, it still had impacts in almost every region of the province, and the 886,300 hectares burned was above the 10-year average.
And with summers projected to get only warmer and drier due to human-caused climate change, air quality concerns are becoming a growing issue.
“The back-to-back above-average seasons from 2023 through 2025 reflect a trend that poses growing challenges for air quality management, public health preparedness, and community resilience across the province,” reads the report.
What was B.C.’s air quality like in 2025?
While 2023 is the worst year on record for smoke exposure in B.C. (with smoky days in most regions at about double the long-term norm), 2025 still saw wildfire smoke trigger air quality warnings in over 30 parts of the province from late July to September, including in Metro Vancouver.
The report looked at B.C.’s air quality last year, where B.C.’s smoky days were in line with the 10-year average.
“At the height of smoke events in early September, Metro Vancouver recorded air quality health index (AQHI) values at the maximum value of 10+, prompting Environment and Climate Change Canada to issue advisories and the Vancouver School Board to move all outdoor activities indoors,” reads the report.
At the 10+ risk category, it is recommended that the general population reduce or reschedule strenuous outdoor activities, and that people at higher risk avoid them.
Air Quality Health Index. (BC Lung Foundation)
When air quality is between four and 10+, the BC Lung Foundation recommends a number of actions people can take to protect their health, including using an air cleaner or DIY box fan air cleaner inside, staying indoors, visiting places with cleaner air, and wearing a respirator (like an N95) while outside.
In 2025, 59 monitoring sites across the province measured and reported hourly concentrations of PM2.5, which is how daily and annual levels are calculated.
B.C. had 12 monitoring sites that found levels of fine particulate matter that went above the provincial daily objective of 25 micrograms per cubic meter, or µg/m³.
While one B.C. community, Valemount, had high PM2.5 pollution due to wintertime residential wood burning, wildfire was the biggest cause for it everywhere else.
“When the influence from wildfires is removed, provincial air quality objectives are met,” reads the report.