B.C.'s provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry provided recommendations on how to handle wildfire smoke at a press conference on Tuesday, as more than 120 wildfires continue to burn across the province. Vast regions within the southern half of British Columbia are currently under orange and yellow air quality warnings due to the wildfire smoke. Henry noted "the main culprit for acute effects of wildfire smoke are these very small particles in the air that we call PPM 2.5," and that masks labeled N95 or KF94 are very effective at filtering out PPM 2.5, provided they are well fitted. Henry was joined by Emergency Management Minister Kelly Greene and Forests Minister Ravi Parmar, who provided an update on evacuations, wildfire status and potential structure losses due to fires. According to the ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, around 10,500 people across B.C. are under evacuation as of Monday and 17,000 people are under an evacuation alert. The evacuation order for the district of Summerland was partially downgraded for more than 3,000 properties on Tuesday morning. However the community remains under an evacuation alert and must be prepared to leave should the fire escalate. For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/12025175/bc-wildfire-smoke-warnings-news-conference/ Subscribe to Global News Channel HERE: http://bit.ly/20fcXDc Follow Global News on X HERE: http://bit.ly/1Toz8mt Follow Global News on TikTok HERE: https://www.tiktok.com/@globalnews.ca?lang=en #GlobalNews #bc #wildfires #britishcolumbia #canada #fires #smoke