This summer, several days a month – and sometimes for a week – there’s something strange about Montreal. The light coming down from the clouds is red-orange, not white, and the sky is milky and heavy. It’s hard to breathe, our heads are spinning and we’re dampened, a little confused and tired.
We’d like a big gulp of fresh water, but we can drink gallons of it without being satisfied-because what we’d really like is a big bowl of fresh air.
The stale air that surrounds Montreal comes from the Prairies and Western Canada, where giant forest fires burn brighter and longer every summer.
So that the quality of the air doesn’t spoil the summer for us, or for those visiting, the vacations, here’s everything we know about forest fires, Montreal’s air and how to get through the foggy days in the best possible way…
Forest fires, Prairies and global warming
In 2025, the Canadian forest fire season (May 1 to September 30) is one of the worst in decades, due to conditions that are conducive to forest fires: above-average temperatures and low precipitation.
The region hardest hit by this summer’s forest fires is Manitoba. It’s part of Canada’s “Prairies” – the west-central part of the country that includes Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The region is also called “the Plains” because of its wide, flat spaces, but much of this fire hotspot is also covered by boreal forest (which is made to burn in natural cycles of life and death). It’s one of the most beautiful places on earth.
It’s also the region of Canada with the most open-pit mines – for the excavation of tar sands and the country’s fossil fuel and mining industry. The global warming caused by this industry, in addition to the global climate chaos causing droughts, is turning the Prairie boreal forest into a larder for fires that are increasingly uncontrollable and violent.
This year, according to the Radio-Canada page that tracks forest fires across the country live, 55,000 km2 of forest have burned so far, and 13,000 people have had to leave their homes and be evacuated in Manitoba.
To find out more about Canadian forest fires and what causes and fuels them to the point of tragedy, we recommend journalist John Vaillant’s excellent book,“Fire Weather”.
Air quality in Montreal
So, in recent months and since the start of the 2025 forest fire season, we’ve seen a lot of very scary headlines, one-liners that made us want to barricade ourselves indoors and stop breathing… “You smoked 150 cigarettes yesterday”, “the worst air quality in the world today” and so on…
While it’s true that the situation is bad, and that air quality is extremely important to our quality of life and health, we’re going to focus on solutions today, to keep us cool on days of diminished air quality.
Environment Canada’s recommendations – and a little more
These are recommendations for days when there’s an air quality and air pollution alert (not every day of the forest fire season).
Those most at risk of suffering from forest-fire smoke spreading in orange haze over the streets of Montreal are the most vulnerable people: young children, the elderly, pregnant women, immunosuppressed people and people with respiratory problems.
- Limit exposure to pollution and fine particles
For them, Environment Canada recommends limiting the time spent outdoors (the running club can wait until tomorrow) and indoors, turning on the air conditioning or a fan, and keeping doors and windows closed. An air-conditioning filter or air purifier that can filter out fine particles is also recommended.
- Wear a mask
Even if it doesn’t bring back fond memories, it’s time to break out the masks again… NIOSH-approved N95 masks, as well as KN95 and KF94, are recommended by Environment Canada.
- Drink tea
It’s not medical, it’s not scientifically proven, but there are herbs and teas that have been used for thousands of years to help and improve the health of the respiratory system.
Even if it doesn’t help flush out the harmful fine particles that are in the forest fire smoke we breathe in Montreal, we can still make an iced tea that will make us feel like we’re taking care of our family and friends during the forest fire season.
These herbs include peppermint, ginger, echinacea, anise, dandelion root and stinging nettle.
Protect your lungs and adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle!