B.C. Interior skies glow orange as wildfire smoke from Fraser Canyon settles in

B.C. Interior skies glow orange as wildfire smoke from Fraser Canyon settles in

Air quality in Kamloops classified as very high risk, according to Environment Canada

"It looked like some sort of Stephen King movie."

That's how Kamloops resident Rob Woods described the skies in the Interior B.C. city Tuesday night, after strong winds drove a smoky, post-apocalyptic atmosphere into the area.

By Wednesday morning, he was donning a mask to go outside.

The skies above Kamloops began shifting Tuesday afternoon. Smoke started to drift in, something the city is familiar with after many years of wildfires filling the valley with thick smoke and ash.

At about 4 p.m. PT, the city posted on social media letting residents know the smoke was not related to a fire nearby, but was blowing in from the Brunswick Creek fire in Boston Bar burning about 120 kilometres away.

By 7 p.m., the streetlights came on as the sky darkened, resident John Karpluk said.

Environment Canada meteorologist Morgen Shull said westerly winds gusting up to 43 km/h brought the smoke into the area Tuesday afternoon. But when those winds died down overnight, she said, the smoke was left trapped.

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"Basically [the smoke] stuck around because wind hasn't been strong enough," she said.

Between 4 and 5 p.m. Tuesday, the air quality shifted from 3 (low risk) to 10 (high risk), according to Environment Canada's Air Quality Health Index (AQHI). An hour later, it hit 10+ — very high risk. So high, in fact, the forecasting agency suggested avoiding strenuous activity outside.

And it stayed nearly that bad overnight. As of Wednesday at 8 a.m., the AQHI was 10.

Shull said more westerly winds are expected Wednesday, but "there doesn't seem to be any sort of big pattern change that will knock the smoke out."

She said air quality warnings are set to remain in place locally for the next two days.

Courtney Dickson is a journalist with CBC News based in Vancouver, covering stories throughout B.C. She has previously worked for CBC in Kamloops and Toronto. She has won Radio Television Digital News Association awards locally and nationally, and in 2022, won a Webster Award.

With files from Jenifer Norwell