Free air quality monitors which ‘would likely have saved’ boy’s life to be distributed in Dawson Creek

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — Free air quality monitors will be distributed in Dawson Creek as part of an initiative in memory of a nine-year-old boy who died from bad air quality.

The BC Lung Foundation said in a July 4th press release that it will hold a meeting in Dawson Creek on July 8th to distribute 90 air quality monitors, including 85 indoor and five outdoor monitors.

Kira Rowsell, senior manager of marketing and communications at the BC Lung Foundation, said the indoor monitors would provide information such as temperature, humidity, about particulate matter and the total volatile organic compounds.

“It’s good for people with lung health vulnerabilities, just to know what they’re breathing and to make changes based on that data,” said Rowsell.

According to Rowsell, two of the outdoor monitors, which upload their data to Purple Air and IQ Air, will be placed with the Dawson Creek Society for Community Living.

Rowsell said the foundation is also looking to place monitors at Dawson Creek City Hall and with other community groups. 

Over the past month, the foundation invited households within Dawson Creek to apply to receive the monitors.

Rowsell said the monitors can provide very helpful information for areas where wildfire smoke is constant. 

“When there isn’t a monitor in the immediate vicinity of the community, it can be difficult to actually know what you’re breathing in,” said Rowsell.

“It really is going to create that on-the-ground resource for people within the community to really know what’s in the air.”

Monitors will be given out at the meeting at Co-op Mercer Hall on July 8th from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., but there will also be education on wildfire smoke and air quality. 

“The City of Dawson Creek was also identified as a community lacking a public outdoor air

quality monitor and a high-risk area for wildfire smoke events,” said the press release. 

“BC Lung wants to ensure that all residents of Dawson Creek have access to accurate, real-time air quality information.”

There will also be a DIY air cleaner workshop through the foundation’s BREATHE (Building Resilience to Emerging Airborne Threats and Heat Events) project.

“All Dawson Creek residents will be able to access real-time air quality readings online from the data provided by the outdoor monitors throughout the city,” said the release.

Participants will receive supplies that they can take home.

“Monitors will provide potentially life-saving information, especially for those who suffer from lung disease and are particularly vulnerable to poor air quality.”

The initiative is part of Carter’s Project, launched by the foundation to honour nine-year-old Carter Vigh. 

Vigh passed away in the summer of 2023 in 100 Mile House, B.C., from an asthma attack worsened by poor air quality.

“The nearest air quality monitoring station was 100km away, the skies were clear, but the air over 100 Mile was invisibly very poor,” said the press release.

“Local real-time air quality monitoring would likely have saved his life.”

In May 2024, the foundation launched Carter’s Project in 100 Mile House to distribute air quality monitors to local families who wanted access to real-time data on air quality.

According to the foundation, one in five British Columbians live with breathing difficulties such as asthma, COPD, pulmonary fibrosis, lung cancer and other diseases.

There have been various special air quality warnings issued by Environment Canada in northeast B.C. due to smoke from wildfires, which have worsened in recent years. 

This year is already the third-worst season on record for the Prince George Fire Centre, which has tackled various large blazes around the province, including the Kiskatinaw River wildfire south of Dawson Creek. 

The meeting is free and open to the public. 

More information about the BC Lung Foundation can be found on its website.