To ban or not to ban burning: Quickly shifting air quality alerts a challenge for Niagara fire departments

The Town of Lincoln issued a fire ban last month — not because there were concerns dry conditions could lead to out-of-control blazes, but because smoke drifting in from Western Canada forest fires was already causing poor air quality.

The ban would be lifted the next day.

Similarly, Niagara was put under an air advisory warning early Tuesday morning, with an alert being issued shortly after 4:30 a.m. The alert was lifted a few hours later.

It’s often the nature of air quality alerts, particularly those related to wildfire smoke. One minute, the smoke is thick enough to cause the level of harmful particles in the air to exceed safe levels. The next minute, the smoke drifts and air quality improves — at least to the point that it’s no longer at the level requiring an advisory to be in pl