Here's why some Jasper residents are paying to test for contaminants in their homes

The Municipality of Jasper says that the air quality of the town is safe for residents, but some homeowners are worried that contaminants like heavy metals may have seeped into their homes during the wildfire.

Patricia Urie returned to her Jasper home on the first day residents could return, but didn't stay long. 

"We went in with masks on … I did take it off for a minute, and it smelled a bit smoky and [metallic]," said Urie. "My husband and I got headaches and we didn't stay there for very long." 

Concerned about the air quality inside her home, Urie paid for an indoor environmental test by Pure Air Solutions Services, after hearing that some residents of Fort McMurray used them after the 2016 wildfire. 

The company gathered samples by wiping surface areas in Urie's home. She said the results showed high levels of lead, chromium, zinc, and nickel. 

"It's surprising … the amount of lead that was found in our house is off the charts," said Urie. 

The company found 25,000 micrograms of lead per wipe — a normal wipe would show about 50 micrograms of lead. 

"The lead levels are indeed quite high … the levels were on the order of 10s of thousands of micrograms per wipe," said Arthur Chan, professor of chemical engineering and applied chemistry at the University of Toronto. 

"These levels are in general … compared to lead that you would find in house dust in Canada, this level is indeed quite high." 

Chan said he isn't certain about how the company does its testing, but says it's plausible that the contaminants came as a result of the wildfire — and not always from an obvious source. 

'When a fire comes, it could carry a lot of what was on the ground or in the soil and bring it back up to the air and deposit it in different homes."

Following the 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Chan tested the interior of 120 homes for contaminants like heavy metals and asbestos. 

"We found that the levels were comparable to a city … that hasn't been affected by major wildfires before," said Chan. 

"We compare the levels in between the neighbourhoods and there were small, subtle difference … but the differences were not large enough to, for example, exceed guidelines."