'Very, very hard to breathe': Experts call wildfires a 'major public health concern' for Canada

As forest fires rage across the country, experts are sounding the alarm over the physical and psychological impacts of the wildfires and saying that they pose a serious public health issue, which individuals and governments need to acknowledge and act upon.

Chris Tanych woke up with a coughing fit in the early hours of Wednesday morning as a smoky haze from wildfires in Quebec and northeastern Ontario blanketed Ottawa for a third straight day.

Tanych, who has asthma, said matters only got worse for his health by the afternoon, when air quality in the capital city remained high risk under Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index (AQHI). Toronto’s air quality was also deemed high risk on Wednesday and ranked in the top five worst air quality and pollution city rankings around the world.

“It's like I'm a 50-year-old smoker, like I have to clear my throat constantly. I feel like I have a frog in my throat, I’m coughing up phlegm,” the 28-year-old told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.

“It’s very, very hard to breathe outside. I go outside and after 10, 20 seconds, I start literally feeling like I'm about to cough my head out and I go into a violent cough.”

Tanych works as a landscape advisor, personal training specialist and a golf coach and said he’s having to take time off work because he can’t perform physically with the smoke lingering in his city, which he likened to campfire smoke. His mental health has also taken a hit.

“I’m anxious, depressed, gloomy,” Tanych said.

“I’m actually planning to go visit my mom in Gananoque for a few days until the smoke clears over — pun unintended.”