Locals take refuge indoors as Hamilton continues to see hazardous air quality

Hamilton and southern Ontario were hit by another day of horrendous air quality caused by smoke from wildfires in northwestern Ontario.

Thursday’s air quality was at least as bad as Wednesday, with people being told to stay indoors out of the polluted air, and people feeling the health effects of the smoke.

Environment Canada has a one-to-10 air quality rating, and the rating in this region was beyond 10 — that’s a very high risk to health and the worst rating possible.

There was one thing different about Thursday.

The smoke that covered the Hamilton area appeared to be a shade of blue, a change from Wednesday’s sickly orange.

But the rating of a high health risk from the wildfire smoke started well before sunrise, and continued for most of the day.

READ MORE: YMCA closes Camp Chippewa amid poor air quality on Thursday

With Hamilton’s Paramedic Service getting calls from people feeling the bad air — 14 calls in 24 hours.

“I think there’s been a slight uptick in respiratory related calls — within about 150 so far this week, and last week there were 200 total,” said Hamilton Paramedic Services Commander Dave Thompson. “It can be anything from chest pain, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing and a headache. It affects everybody, whether they have a pre-existing health condition or not, because we’re all breathing the same thing and we’re all getting it in our lungs.”

With doctors telling people to stay inside Dr. Kevan Mehta, a respirologist with Hamilton Health Sciences, says this air pollution can carry a double whammy when it hits your lungs.

“The most immediate and short-term effects would be some people experiencing an irritated nose, sore throat, sore eyes, or irritated eyes,” said Mehta. “It can cause chest tightness, coughing, wheezing.”

That can be especially bad for people with lung or heart problems, but it can get worse.

“Smoke like this has particles that can be small enough to enter our deep parts of our lungs and even into our bloodstream, and from there those can affect the small airways in the longer term, and even distant parts of our body — these even pass it to the bloodstream and affect our heart our kidneys, our brain, and blood vessels,” said Mehta.

READ MORE: Day two of air quality warnings brings ‘very high risk’ to Golden Horseshoe

So with the warning to stay inside, Hamilton’s Bayfront Park was close to deserted at times.

“I used to come down here about three or four times a week and do my walks around the park,” said local resident Gary Cooper, but today he said the air smells too much like a barbeque. “I’m just going back to my car now. It’s too — you can taste it, taste the weather the way it is.”

Some police departments in the region say they’ve been getting calls from people mistakenly thinking there may be fires in their area, because of the smoke that’s coming from the northwest.

On the usually busy James Street North, an empty patio at El Grito Mexicano is losing business due to bad air.

“Nobody in the patio, nobody wants to sit outside,” said Diana Salazar at El Grito Mexicano. “It smells very bad, so people don’t want to go out.”

At last word, the air quality in Hamilton was still at the worst 10-plus rating and expected to stay that way until Friday.

WATCH MORE: Air quality warnings spread across Golden Horseshoe as wildfires burn in northwestern Ontario