Canadian wildfire smoke is bringing unhealthy air across the northern tier of the United States to start the week, triggering air quality alerts for more than a dozen states from Montana to Vermont. Forecasters predicted around 70 million people would see decreased visibility and poor air quality, including residents of Chicago, Detroit, New York, St. Louis and Cleveland. On Monday, the plume of smoke stretched across the US like a noxious belt with several states experiencing “unhealthy” air, which is Level 4 of 6 on the Air Quality Index. Some of the unhealthy air stretched as far south as northern Alabama on Monday morning. The smoke could linger but is not forecast to reach the same “hazardous” levels there as it did in early June. The smoke should get less potent as the week progresses, according to the Weather Prediction Center. The plume was birthed from nearly 400 fires ignited in British Columbia in the past week.
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Fighting wildfires has always been a physically demanding job, but attention is increasingly being paid in Canada to its psychological toll. Wildland firefighters and professionals who work with them say the job has become mentally tougher as fires have become larger and more complex, increasingly getting close to or reaching areas where people live. “I hear it over and over again that these are unprecedented conditions, and yet every every other week there’s new unprecedented conditions,” said Steve Lemon, an incident commander with BC Wildfire Service. Lemon, who said he has lost five colleagues to suicide, is also a safety and well-being officer trying to accelerate a cultural shift toward more discussions about mental health within firefighting. …As Canada reckons with its worst wildfire season ever, crew leaders and firefighting company managers are on alert for warning signs of mental-health struggles.
The global weather pattern El Niño has returned for the first time in seven years, according to the World Meteorological Organization, setting the stage for further extreme weather and soaring temperatures. …”The onset of El Niño will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records,” WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas said. While it’s a natural phenomenon, this is the first time El Niño has happened on top of a baseline of so much human-caused warming.” …El Niño is a naturally occurring climate pattern associated with warming of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. …It has been linked to extreme weather conditions, from heavy rainfall in South America to drought in Australia and parts of Asia. …Historically, Canada is mostly affected by El Niño during winter and spring. Milder than normal winters and springs occur in western and central Canada.
Dr. Michael Fitzpatrick, a professor of medicine at Queen’s University specializing in respirology, says smoke exposed to UV rays can create a chemical reaction that creates benzene and formaldehyde, which smell like burning plastic. The reaction with UV rays can happen quickly, Fitzpatrick said, but for the smell to be a result depends on the concentration of “volatile organic compounds” that are released by the fire. …Fitzpatrick said that if you smell burning plastic, it could be a sign that the air has become more toxic. The smoke so far has typically had a wood-fire-type smell. The presence of formaldehyde in the air can cause irritation of the eyes and throat, according to Fitzpatrick, while benzene can cause drowsiness, headaches and a rapid heart rate. He also noted that benzene can be carcinogenic…
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Smoke and haze filled the skies across the Northeast on Tuesday, as wildfires burning hundreds of miles away in Canada made the air unhealthy in New York City, Boston and elsewhere. …The forecast computer model in the map above shows where the thickest smoke is likely near the surface over the next several hours. Many of the fires burning in Quebec started days ago, if not weeks. But a storm system swirling off the coast of Nova Scotia forced the smoke from these fires south into the United States, and then east. The weather pattern pushing smoke to the Northeast is expected to persist for the next several days, with haze likely to continue across the region. So far this year, 600 square miles have burned throughout Quebec, 
Our Policy, Regulation and Research Department is releasing a discussion paper with proposed policies regarding two new provisions of the Workers Compensation Act: the duty to cooperate and the duty to maintain employment. The proposed policies provide guidance on these new provisions, added to the Act by the Workers Compensation Amendment Act (No. 2), 2022(Bill 41). The discussion paper and information on how to provide feedback can be found here: 
Two weeks ago, the single highway connecting several west coast communities on Vancouver Island was shut down because of a wildfire. The towns were cut off – Tofino, Ucluelet, Port Alberni as well as some First Nations communities. …And this is only one instance. In an already unprecedented fire season, what else might we face this year across Canada – and, as the climate emergency continues, in years to come? …The loss of the road is an issue not just for tourism, but for locals who need supplies, have medical appointments or must travel for other reasons. …The talk now must turn, and has turned, to building a viable alternative. Not another highway, necessarily. But perhaps widening and paving a second route to make it safer and more accessible. [A Globe and Mail subscription is required for full story access]
Travellers hoping to find the Horne Lake Connector open as a route around the Cameron Bluff fire Friday were instead met with signs telling them the road was closed. Mosaic Forest Management…says the gravel logging road is closed to the public and that the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure specifically chose the Cowichan detour route instead. “Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure reviewed multiple options with Mosaic, including the Horne Lake route, and they selected the Cowichan route for public access as the safest alternative to Highway 4,” Mosaic said. …Another route that CHEK viewers emailed about is between the Comox Valley and Port Alberni, using Comox Lake Road. It connects with Ash Main and Beaver Creek Road, but it too is closed by Mosaic because of active logging. But that didn’t stop travellers showing up there, many saying they followed the map on their phone indicating the route was open.
FLORENCE, Wisconsin — Workplace safety officials are investigating the death of a 16-year-old boy from injuries he received last week at a Wisconsin sawmill. Michael Schuls died Saturday at a pediatric hospital in Milwaukee, two days after officers responded to a call about an unresponsive teenager at Florence Hardwoods. His death comes as lawmakers in several states, including Wisconsin, are embracing legislation to let children work in more hazardous occupations, for more hours on school nights. The sheriff’s office said the teen died after an “industrial accident” but Chrisman said Thursday that Schuls’ cause of death and details of his injuries were not being released because of the ongoing investigation. …The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating. …In Wisconsin, minors are prohibited from working in all logging-related occupations, including jobs involving the operation of sawmills, according to the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.
