VIDEO: Kamloops ‘unrecognizable’ due to wildfire smoke

KAMLOOPS – Communities across the province are being scorched by devastating wildfires, but the impact goes far beyond the immediately affected areas.

The air quality in Kamloops has deteriorated over the past few weeks from wildfire smoke blowing into the city. A marathon in Kamloops scheduled for this Sunday, July 23, had to be cancelled due to the smokey skies.

A Red Cross volunteer put together a short video showing how unrecognizable Kamloops can be when our skies are blanketed by a thick cloud of smoke.

"So this is the Kamloops lookout and normally on a sunny day you'd see the city, downtown, which you can't see because of all the smoke," she says in the video. "You'd see this river down there below but actually with all of the smoke and haze in the air, it's pretty much unrecognizable."

The air quality index from Environment Canada showed Kamloops is at a four, or moderate risk, for air quality at about 2 p.m. today, July 19. But that number is expected to rise to seven, or high risk, later today. 

The air has been so poor here that Canada Post mail carriers have been taken off the job on certain days due to health and safety concerns.

A Red Cross volunteer describes how smoke from the #BCWildfire can be felt in #Kamloops where many evacuees are currently staying. pic.twitter.com/fwOUWCSgRY

— Canadian Red Cross (@redcrosscanada) July 19, 2017

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