Wildfires continue to burn in Canada, and the smoke is filling communities there and towns across the U.S. border. That sparked six members of the United States Congress from Minnesota and Wisconsin to write to Canadian officials asking about their plans to mitigate wildfire and smoke.
“Our constituents have been limited in their ability to go outside and safely breathe due to the dangerous air quality the wildfire smoke has created. In our neck of the woods, summer months are the best time of the year to spend time outdoors recreating, enjoying time with family, and creating new memories, but this wildfire smoke makes it difficult to do all those things,” the lawmakers wrote.
Manitoba’s premier was asked about the letter.
“This is what turns people off from politics, is when you’ve got a group of Congress people, trying to trivialize and make hay out of a wildfire season where we’ve lost lives in our province,” said Wab Kinew, premier of Manitoba, Canada.
Earlier this week, officials in Manitoba, to Minnesota’s north, declared a state of emergency. Canada is battling its second-largest wildfire season on record. CLICK HERE for a map of the fires that are currently burning across the country.
“Fire seasons are generally becoming more severe, they are lasting longer, they are starting earlier,” said Alexandria Jones, spokesperson for the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
In Canada, each province or territory manages its own fire response, not the national government.
“We have so many different fire management agencies; some places they allow fires to burn, when they are not threatening communities or critical infrastructure,” said Dr. Mike Flannigan, a professor of Emergency Management and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University in Canada. “We just let Mother Nature do her thing.”
Flannigan said it’s the hot, dry, and windy weather, along with lightning strikes, that are fueling fires in dry forests.
“Leads to these higher intensity fires that are difficult or impossible to extinguish,” Flannigan said.