With wildfires happening more frequently over the summer season in Canada – a survey is being conducted looking at the effect’s wildfire smoke can have.
University of Alberta student Devon Healey and his professor Dr. Tara McGee are looking for individuals who are willing to share their experiences.
The survey is anonymous and by taking part, you’re helping researches better understand people’s perception of wildfire smoke.
Healey tells Mix News they’re hoping to see how people respond and are affected by natural disasters.
“A lot of people focus on the fire itself, but we often neglect or put aside how dangerous exposure to wildfire smoke actually is. So, that’s what we’re trying to understand here. How people respond to it and how people understand this risk.”
Some questions in the survey will ask about health impacts from wildfire smoke exposure.
Healey says the survey will help their research by identifying the health impacts and other factors.
“We just want to make sure the public is understanding and responding correctly or in an ideal way to combat these hazards. That’s what this research is trying to do. Help people understand, help us to better explain and help people prepare for future wildfire events.”
Anyone in Canada can take part in the survey and findings from the research will be presented in an academic journal article.
“There will be questions about during their last wildfire event. What did they do, why did they do it, would they do it again, do they know what to do? And questions regarding if they saw any warnings about wildfire smoke and if they did, did they understand the warnings.”
You can find the survey here.
