Smoke

Canada is on fire, and gosh darn it Rep. Calvin Callahan, of Tomahawk, is fed up with it.

He recently joined with lawmakers from Iowa, Minnesota and North Dakota in filing a formal complaint against Canada as wildfire smoke continues to impact air quality here.

As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Callahan simply won’t tolerate the inconvenience of Canada’s forests burning. “From farming and forestry to fishing and construction, Wisconsin is a proud state built on being outdoors,” Rep. Callahan said in an Aug. 6 statement. 'Our workers, families and kids can’t afford to breathe toxic air day after day. Canada needs to step up and take responsibility before more Wisconsinites suffer.”

Callahan’s comments are the equivalent of someone writing a strongly-worded letter to their homeowners association that the smoke from their neighbor’s house burning down is disrupting their backyard barbecue. It is reflective of an attitude that places the individual as being the center of the universe and how dare anyone or anything cause them discomfort or disruption.

Beyond this, the complaint carries less weight than a butterfly’s opinions on hurricane winds. The nation of Canada could really care less that some back-bencher state legislator from Wisconsin is upset because of an ongoing ecological disaster. I am sure the government in Ottawa will drop everything they are doing and focus efforts on diverting smoke around Wisconsin. I would suggest erecting giant fans facing north, but that would just rile up the anti-windmills brigade.

No one, except perhaps the companies selling high quality home air filters, is enjoying the wildfire smoke. Those of us who spend a lot of time outdoors come home at night with congestion, scratchy throats and the feeling in our lungs that reminds us why ending smoking in taverns made going out for the evening so much more enjoyable.

The basic premise of Callahan and others who want to blame Canada is the mistaken belief that Canada is somehow purposefully sending smoke to Wisconsin to intentionally inconvenience Wisconsinites.

Such a mindset borders on lunacy. Canada is a massive country that is largely empty. Most Canadians live south of Wisconsin in and around Ontario and Quebec and the places where these fires are raging are far distant and away from any sizable population centers.

This makes it not only a logistical nightmare to get materials and crews to fight the blaze, but raises the legitimate question of prioritizing where firefighting resources should be deployed. Canada, rightfully, is focusing attention on preventing the spread into where people actually live before going after more remote areas. They are also getting help from firefighting crews from places like Australia, South American countries, Mexico and the United States. Although U.S. resources are already spread thin fighting our own seasonal wildfires.

In the mindset of people who believe bad things happen to people because they secretly did something to deserve it, a hop on any social media platform will expose you to hundreds of conspiracy theorists who are ready to blame Canada for just about anything. At the mildest levels they rant about mismanagement before diving off the deep end into Illuminati-populated, lizard people, ravings of the tinfoil-hat corps.

Occasionally wading into the cesspit of conspiracy theorists can be fun, provided you bring along a good pair of hip boots. It is noteworthy that among those pontificating about what Canada should be doing, few know the difference between a bow saw and a nail file, let alone anyone who has ever fired up a chainsaw or done any sort of forest management. The reality is changing weather patterns have resulted in warmer and drier conditions for the forested regions. Likewise, warmer than normal winters have allowed populations of insect pests to weaken stands of trees resulting in more fuel to be ignited by lightning strikes and other natural causes.

Rather than criticizing our neighbors to the north, Rep. Callahan and his crew of complainers should be offering ways to lend a hand and resources to get the forest fires extinguished. Only then, will Wisconsin not have to worry about air quality alerts and having their weekends at the lake ruined by the misery of others.

Brian Wilson is News Editor at The Star News. Contact Brian at BrianWilson@centralwinews.com.