Some Massachusetts summer camps are pivoting when it comes to outdoor activities this summer due to the smoke blowing down from the Canadian wildfires.
Ann Marie Gallo, owner and director of Summer’s Edge Day Camp and Tennis School in Lexington, has nearly 100 kids ages 4 to 14 enrolled in summer camp. At certain points last week, she said the camp moved outdoor activities indoors to the Minuteman High School, which has air conditioning.
“When there was a health advisory and the air quality was really poor, we just moved our curriculum inside,” she said. “The only thing we can’t do inside is archery, but campers swim at an indoor pool as well.”
Summer’s Edge staff keep parents and the campers updated on the air quality with a weekly newsletter. She said the air quality alerts are similar to weather advisories.
Massachusetts hosts around 200 summer camps across the state, ranging from traditional overnight sleepaway camps to specialized day programs according to Mass Camps. The exact number fluctuates yearly as new programs open and smaller localized camps merge.
This year, monitoring the air quality due to the wildfires is part of a daily routine for professional camp staff.
Meteorologist Emily McMinn from the National Weather Service in Norton said right now the smoke from the wildfires is “dissipating” over New England.
“Most smoke models forecast out 24-48 hours,” McMinn said. While wildfires continue to burn in the northern plains, South Dakota, Montana, and Oregon, it’s hard to predict if smoke will return, but it’s a possibility.
The Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts runs seven summer camps for nearly 6,000 kids.
Joanna Lenahan, vice president of operations, said they’ve been keeping an eye on the forecast and inform families with updates, as they monitor air quality.
“Our camps are very rustic. Some of our camps have large buildings that the girls can go into, some do not,” Lenahan said.
She said the safety and health of all campers is a top priority, so they’ve increased water breaks and rest periods.
“We sent information to all of our parents letting them know that we may make adjustments to our daily schedules, ” Gallo said. “So a couple of things that we’ve been doing is reducing or limiting the outdoor strenuous activities.”
Lenahan said they get data from the Environmental Protection Agency, local public health officials and the National Weather Service. She added they also monitor the new app from the state Department of Public Health, called AIRNOW, for the latest updates.
“We might not do high ropes that day. We might have to postpone it for another day. We’ve been moving our programs indoors as much as we can. We are fortunate enough that we do have smaller buildings, so we can put each group in a building, or we put them in the shaded areas.”
She said the Girl Scouts have an emergency action plan to be prepared for whatever happens.
“We may have to postpone or modify,” she said. “ We have not had to do that yet. I’m hoping we don’t have to get to that point, but we have let our parents know that we have our school buses on standby (to evacuate 24/7 if need be),” she said.
