Air quality warning for southeast Calgary communities due to smoke and ash from landfill fire

An air quality warning was issued Friday for areas downwind of an ongoing fire at a southeast Calgary landfill as smoke conditions have worsened.

The Calgary Fire Department is advising residents of areas including Douglasdale, Quarry Park, East Shepard, McKenzie Towne, New Brighton and Copperfield to take precautions such as keeping windows and doors closed, limiting time outdoors where possible, limiting physical activity both indoors and outdoors, and checking in on family and neighbours who may be more vulnerable to smoke exposure.

Alberta Environment and Protected Areas began monitoring air quality in the area on Wednesday, with Alberta Health Services collecting and reviewing the data.

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“While air monitoring reviewed on Sept. 10 found no hourly average readings above Alberta’s ambient air quality guidelines, residents in areas directly downwind of the fire may still experience smoke and related health effects,” the fire department said in a Friday statement.

The Calgary Fire Department has been able to contain the fire, which ignited Sunday at Ecco Recycling between 24th Street and Barlow Trail S.E., battling cycles of knock-down and ignition as smouldering fires are uncovered.

Fire suppression efforts and air quality monitoring remain ongoing as of Friday afternoon, the statement said.

Thomas Pearce, who lives in the nearby community of Douglasdale, said the neighbourhood has been engulfed in smoke for most of the week.

“ There’s been momentary breaks, basically . Y esterday, you could just see it sitting in our cul-de-sac and kind of engulfing the whole neighbourhood for most of the day,” he said.

Pearce has three young children, and said he’s primarily concerned about the effect the smoke could have on them.

“It’s just a little frustrating, with a young family, and we’re big into being outside and doing all that stuff, and it seems very difficult these days,” he said. “You’re dodging forest fires on one side, which naturally happen, and that’s one thing. But then when we’ve got garbage fires that are a totally different thing, and seems a little bit more frightening.”

It was his five-year-old daughter who first noticed the smoke and ash on Sunday.

“ We were getting ready to head out, and she’s like, ‘ Daddy, there’s stuff falling out of the sky, and it smells really stinky,’ ” he said. Shortly afterward, the family was driving through the nearby Deerfoot interchange and could see a thick, gray plume of smoke coming from the recycling plant.