US lawmakers write to Canada to complain that its wildfire smoke is spoiling summer

"We write to you today on behalf of our constituents who have had to deal with suffocating Canadian wildfire smoke filling the air to begin the summer," they wrote to Ambassador Kirsten Hillman.

It was signed by Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin and Michelle Fischbach, Brad Finstad, Pete Stauber and Tom Emmer of Minnesota. The Canadian embassy told the BBC that Canada takes wildfire prevention "very seriously".

Two Canadians have died in this year's wildfires and tens of thousands of others have evacuated.

Tom Emmer is a senior member of Congress, serving as Majority Whip in the House of Representatives.

He and his five fellow Republican lawmakers wrote in the letter, published Monday: "We would like to know how your government plans on mitigating wildfire and the smoke that makes its way south."

They continued: "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."

Tarryn Elliott, spokeswoman for the Canadian embassy in Washington DC, told the BBC the Canadian government "takes the prevention, response, and mitigation of wildfires very seriously".

"I can confirm that the letter has been received by the Embassy and has been shared with the relevant Canadian agencies," she said. "We will respond in due course."

Canada faces wildfires every summer. The worst year on record was 2023, when the fires killed eight people and torched an area larger in size than England, according to the Canadian government.

There have been 2,672 fires so far this year, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

May and June were particularly bad months in western Canada, when around 30,000 people were evacuated in the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where officials declared a state of emergency.

"As I'm sure you know, this is not the first year Canadian wildfire smoke has been an issue," the lawmakers wrote, blaming a "lack of active forest management" and arson.

"With all the technology that we have at our disposal, both in preventing and fighting wildfires, this worrisome trend can be reversed if proper action is taken," they stated.

Wildfires are part of the natural cycle, and play an essential role in the regeneration of Canada's boreal forests, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources of Canada.

Many are caused by lightning strikes. In 2023, 93% of the fires in Canada were caused by lightning, according to the Canadian Climate Institute.

Scientists have linked worsening wildfire seasons to climate change, an issue that affects Canada significantly.

The country is warming at a rate twice that of the global average due to its large land mass, and its Arctic region is warming three times as fast, according to scientists.

-BBC