Stock photo of smoky skies over a lake courtesy of Interior Health

By Liam Verster

Reduce Smoke Exposure

People advised to avoid wildfire smoke expose: seniors advocate

Sep 5, 2025 | 11:06 AM

A local seniors advocate has recommended people limit their time outdoors with the wildfire smoke hovering over the Okanagan.

Pam Myers, Executive Director of NexusBC, which is a part of the Vernon Seniors Action Network, told Vernon Matters that people should try to reduce their exposure to wildfire smoke over the weekend.

“[Seniors should] stay indoors as much as possible, that way they can avoid the smoke outside, and certainly if they can avoid going outside and exerting themselves at all that’s usually our recommendations for them,” Meyers said.

“We don’t have the heat right now, but with the smoke it’s more about the breathing, and if they have to go outside then of course we would suggest that they have a mask of some kind that they could wear that would help with that.”

Myers recommended that people who do need to get out for exercise, errands, or other reasons go to places with good air conditioning or ventilation, like the mall, library, recreation centre or Kal Tire Place.

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She said her organization had received some complaints about the smoky conditions.

“We do have a program where we give quite a few seniors rides, like transportation services,” Myers explained.

“We have volunteers giving them rides and certainly the volunteers are hearing this from our seniors about the smoke, but at least they’re able to give them rides so they aren’t kind of left on their own walking down the street or trying to manage getting on the bus and waiting for a bus outside. But the volunteers are telling us they are getting some feedback so we just have to ask them to bear with it.”

Myers also recommended people keep an eye on the weather forecast and plan their outings or activities for after the smoke conditions have passed.

“It’s something that we just try to avoid if you can, and if you can hold off going somewhere, like if you had an outing planned, it’s probably better to hold off for a few days until we see where this goes.”