Amelia Bellamy-Royds 

My neighbourhood (Parkallen, Edmonton) is really smoky this evening. Like, I could smell it indoors just from what sneaks into this drafty old house. According to @keithzg's nearby monitor, smoke started to rise around 5:30pm & really shot up an hour later (AKA, nearly an hour ago).

The citywide air quality maps don't have a wave of smoke, which made me fearful that it's yet another arson of a house under construction. But if it is, the fire isn't big enough to be visible in the night sky walking around my block. And there have been no sirens that I've heard.

I'm hoping it's just someone doing something like burning leaves in a backyard firepit. It is mostly a clean woodfire smoke smell, at least.

I just really don't like smelling smoke, at all, anymore.

#YEG #YEGaq

8 suspicious infill property blazes in Edmonton since September prompts warning from fire chief | CBC News

A string of eight suspicious fires since September in Edmonton have caused an estimated $8 million in damage, fire officials said Tuesday.

CBC
Nov 5 at 2:23amWeb
Show threadCthulku has movedNov 5

@AmeliasBrain

That was my guess; I saw two AQI hotspots on PurpleAir this evening, which doesn't bode well.

(Edit: that they were housefires. Too focal and way too high a particulate count to be much else, unless someone's burning wet leaves)

@keithzg

Show threadAmelia Bellamy-Royds Nov 5

@cthulku @keithzg The effect is really local, though. Just this neighbourhood. And yet I can only smell the smoke, not see any fire or hear any response to it.

I really wish the fire department had some sort of public feed/map of incidents they're dealing with, similar to how you can check electricity or water outages. Local news just doesn't have the capacity to report on everything in real time anymore.

Show threadkeithzgNov 5
@AmeliasBrain @cthulku Ja it was always a bit problematic that we relied on for-profit entities for basic local news, but now relying on them isn't even an option anymore. This is a place open data could really, really help things, but I suspect there isn't a lot of enthusiasm for it in town hall these days.
Show threadMegNov 6

@AmeliasBrain @cthulku @keithzg it's possible to tune into their dispatch radio. There's a bunch of online services that digitize it as well if you search for Edmonton fire radio.

Back in the halcyon days of Twitter there was also an account there that would post about notable things that came up on it.

Show threadAmelia Bellamy-Royds Nov 6
@megmac @cthulku @keithzg Yeah, I knew about online radio dispatch feeds (I assume that's still available for fire; police has gone encrypted, I believe). But it's the "summary of notable events today" part that I was missing; didn't want to listen all evening waiting for clues.
Show threadkeithzgNov 6
@AmeliasBrain @megmac @cthulku Yeah a municipal event log easily filterable by type (fire, cops, power, traffic, etc; by severity levels) would be really nice, and clearly within the realm of possibility in technical senses.
Show threadPurplejavatrollNov 5
@AmeliasBrain @keithzg There's a hint of smoke in Ritchie, but not a lot. No more than we might get from someone having a fireplace lit.
Show threadAmelia Bellamy-Royds Nov 5
@Purplejavatroll @keithzg It's finally come down here, but the PM2.5 levels were up over 250 micrograms per cubic meter (hazardous AQI levels) for an hour.
Show threadPurplejavatrollNov 5
@AmeliasBrain @keithzg That makes me think it was local, for sure.