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Earlier in the week, we took you to Valley of Peace where the villagers were recovering from a weekend full of ash and smoke. The village has to contend with both forest and agricultural fires but they're worried that the smog combined with an already active fire season will have detrimental effects on their health.

But while this weekend's blaze was intentionally set, western farmers have come together to take preventative steps to ensure that residents won't have to choke on smoke coming from their farms.

But first, the farmers need to know what is happening on the ground, and today, one of them did so from the sky. General Manager at Valley of Peace Farms, Gilbert Canton, took our news team on a flyover of the area. Courtney Menzies was there and has this story.

Ash, soot, and smoke was choking the Valley of Peace over the weekend — the village's location puts it right in the line of fire as it is nestled in the midst of sugar cane farms which must burn the fields when the crop commences.

But while initially it was believed that the larger farms — Valley of Peace Farms Limited or Santander — was the cause of the post apocalyptic scene, the group of Cayo farmers found that it was another farm in the area. And their representative, the general manager of VOPFL told us how the group immediately sprang into action.

Gilbert Canton Jr, Rep., Cayo's Sugar Cane Farmers
" My first reaction was, oh my gosh, that's something that should not happen in Valley of Peace Village and then my second reaction was, okay, was it our farm? It was not our farm, Valley of Peace Farms Limited but it was a member of our groups of farms and so then we started talking as a group of farmers about what we can do to make sure this doesn't happen again and part of what we're doing is our due diligence to make sure this doesn't happen again in that area because the village should not have to go through that again."

And the first step was a flyover of the area. Canton invited our team to get an aerial view of the village and the surrounding farms. For him, it served as a way to gather data that he will then pass on to the other farmers so that they can be more mindful of the slowly growing village.

Gilbert Canton Jr, Rep., Cayo's Sugar Cane Farmers
" For me first of all, I hadn't realized just how much the village had expanded and it is definitely close to some of our farmer group fields and that's something that we need to be more cognizant of as a group and so that's definitely one of the take aways for me and I'll take our findings from this back to our farming group and say, hey guys, we need to look at this very carefully to make sure that the village doesn't suffer from this again."

"We try our very best to fall within our environmental compliance plan and when it comes to, at least I can't speak for all the farmers because we have a few small farms out there that have one field but I know the larger farm, for example, we all work together, when our farm sets a fire, we've got a water truck, tractors, we've got 5, 6, 7, 8 people there to make sure it doesn't get away and I can say this year from our cane fields I think we only had one escape which we were able to control very quickly. Our farm, I'm not talking about our farm group, that was our farm, but most of our larger farmers are pretty good about that."

And during the flyover, the ever present haze was hanging in the air, and on the ground, the smoke from agricultural and forest fires was carried on the wind — some of the plumes of smoke going in the direction of the village.

The browner areas marked the places where forest fires had previously torn through trees.

But as for the intentionally set fires, Canton pointed out that it's actually necessary for farmers and for continued development.

Gilbert Canton Jr, Rep., Cayo's Sugar Cane Farmers
" We have to remember that fire, not the forest fires, but the ones that we saw that were intentional fires from clearing, it is a part of our development process, it is a part of farming and we do have to have that balance, it's why our conservation areas are so important because we have to protect those because we are developing other areas. I always look back and think, okay when you go to the US, you don't see these fires, well, they burnt all their fires 200 years ago so we are still in that development process so from what I saw today,"

"I saw a lot of development, I saw a lot of new farms, milpas, small and large farms that are going to be coming online, you know, various crops, I saw some coconut farms that looked like they were being developed, I saw some grain farms that looked like it was being developed, I saw cane farms that looked like they were being developed, so I see a lot of development which is good as long as we keep that balance with our conservation as well."

And while they try to maintain that balance, the western cane farmers will also have to find a balance between their necessary fires and the health of the villagers.

And the Ministry of Health issued a release with tips in the event someone is suffering from smoke inhalation - particularly residents with lung or respiratory conditions. According to that release, the victim should be moved to a safe area away from the smoke where they can get fresh air. The person should then sit or lay down on their side, not on their back, and those around them should contact the nearest health facility. While waiting for help, if the person stops breathing, anyone with training can give them CPR.

The release also advises that side effects from toxin inhalation may not show up immediately and can worsen quickly, to ensure that the affected person is examined by a doctor even if there are no visible symptoms. The person should only return home once the threat of fires and smoke is gone.