Wildfires are burning. What does the smoke mean for athletes at the Canada Games?

As parts of the Avalon Peninsula face wildfires and poor air quality conditions as a result, the CEO of the 2025 Canada Games host society says it's an issue organizers are keeping an eye on.

On Wednesday, Karen Sherriffs said organizers have been working closely with the province's emergency operations centre and that conditions haven't hampered competition as of yet.

"At this point, they have assured us that there should be no impact to the 2025 Canada Games," Sherriffs told reporters.

"[It's] no different than any weather event that we would have for the Canada Games. We would work really closely with the national sport organizations, who would make a final call on whether a game should be delayed, cancelled or postponed."

A fire burning in the area of Holyrood is of particular interest, as soccer matches are scheduled to take place in nearby Conception Bay South.

Parts of C.B.S. have been evacuated as a result of the fire.

Sherriffs said air quality has been built into contingency planning for the games, noting that most competition venues have some kind of backup plan in place. Any backup plan would have to meet national sporting standards, she added.

For example, the soccer field in C.B.S. is one of four in use for competition.

"That's part of our planning that we've been doing for months and years now," she said.

Sherriffs said organizers will continue to make decisions with the most up to date information during the games, also accounting for things like weather and high temperatures — which could reach upwards of 30 C in some areas during the first week of competition.

She reiterated that any decisions made are made with athletes' health and safety top of mind.

Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Premier John