As wildfires spark evacuations for communities across Western Canada, the parents of a B.C. boy who died last summer are urging the public to take smoke seriously and offering tools to help improve public safety.
In July, nine-year-old Carter Vigh died of asthma exacerbated by wildfire smoke in the small municipality of 100 Mile House, B.C., roughly 290 kilometres northeast of Vancouver.
“I would never wish this on anyone,” said mother Amber Vigh. “But I’m so proud we are doing this in his name, and that he’s going to change lives.”
Following his death, Amber created Carter’s Project, a partnership between the family and the B.C. Lung Foundation, to fund free air quality monitors in the province.
On Tuesday, the project delivered more than 100 air quality monitors to residents in 100 Mile House. A town hall was held to teach people how to make air purifiers using box fans and HEPA furnace filters.
“I have to think about the smoke,” said Lori Johnson, a town hall attendee with asthma.
“I worry about it all the time,” she said.
The parents of Carter Vigh, a nine-year-old who died after a wildfire smoke induced asthma attack, have partnered with the B.C. Lung Foundation to provide personal air quality monitoring devices in rural communities.
B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure says there was an air quality monitoring program in 100 Mile House from March 1993 to August 2015, but notes its “measurements were filter-based and required lab analysis and could not be used in real time for public notification purposes.”
“During the wildfire season, we issue smoky skies [bulletins] to make sure people are aware of any expected air quality risks,” the ministry writes, adding that a bulletin was issued for 100 Mile House the day Carter died.
The ministry encourages people to sign up to receive those bulletins through email or text message.
Nationwide spike in air quality alerts
Data from Environment Canada shows the number of air quality alerts issued hit new highs last year, particularly in May and June as smoke blanketed parts of eastern Canada — spiking at more than 1,400 in June.
In B.C., more than 25,000 square kilometres of forest burned during the 2023 wildfire season, sending toxic plumes over cities and towns, with 345 air quality advisories issued by mid-September.
Carter’s family says they didn’t know how poor quality was on the day he died because the nearest air quality monitoring station was in Williams Lake, nearly 100 kilometres away.
“There’s such a drastic difference geography-wise, elevation-wise [between 100 Mile House and Williams Lake],” said Amber Vigh.
That evening, Carter started coughing. The attack grew so bad, his parents took him to the hospital where doctors attempted to perform CPR.
B.C. Lung Foundation president & CEO Chris Lam says the monitors given to the community include a mix of indoor and outdoor models, which will eventually upload data to the IQAir app and website.
Teaching children about air quality
This week in the B.C. legislature, the Vigh family’s local provincial representative introduced a private member’s bill — called Carter’s Law — that would ensure better air quality management and protect vulnerable people during wildfire seasons.
“To see the tears in everyone’s eyes that were sitting in the house and to hear the applause, it was honestly incredible,”said Vigh.
Her goal is to make sure every community in British Columbia has both air quality monitors and air purifiers. Money for the devices is being raised through the B.C. Lung Foundation.
The foundation is currently assessing which communities Carter’s Project should visit next.
On Wednesday, the Carter’s Project team taught students at 100 Mile House Elementary School about asthma and air quality and made air purifiers with them.
The school will then have 20 air purifiers to use this year — enough for every classroom and the library, Vigh said.