The FACET research project aims to determine how long ashes from the 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray are retained in the local house dust, and if these residual ashes have a detrimental effect on the local population’s health.
FACET (Fire Ash Characterization and Evaluation of Toxicity) is run by a multidisciplinary team of researchers based at University of Toronto, University of Alberta, and Environment Canada.
Since July 2017, we conducted over 120 house visits and collected more than 800 samples. Initial results will be published in Summer 2018.
We will be back in Fort McMurray in July 2018, and we are now looking for new volunteers that living in Fort McMurray who allow us to collect dust samples in their houses.
Click here to find out more about taking part in this study.
The study addresses three questions:
- What quantities of fire-related toxins are present in indoor and outdoor environments one year after the fire?
- Are inhaled wildfire ashes detrimental to lungs health?
- How does the toxicity of wildfire ashes change over time?