Why Canada can’t just put its wildfires out

Heavy smoke from Canada’s wildfires has put a thick haze over large parts of the U.S. this summer. Here, visitors to New York City hold a map showing city landmarks on a clear day as they stand on the viewing deck of Rockefeller Center in late June.

Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

Smoke from Canada’s wildfires have filled U.S. skies with an unhealthy haze for weeks, becoming a hallmark of the 2023 summer. The smoke raises a number of questions, from why the fires have lasted so long to how smoke keeps ruining air quality for tens millions of people in the U.S.

For many people, the smoke is worse than any other time in recent memory. And there are concerns about whether this might simply be the new normal — if people in the central and eastern U.S. should simply get used to the idea that their summers will be marked by weeks of smoke rather than blue skies and clear sunshine.

To get answers about Canada’s wildfire, NPR contacted four experts:

• Quinn Barber, a fire science analyst at the Canadian Forest Services in Alberta
• Paige Fischer, an environmental scientist at the University of Michigan
• Daniel Perrakis, a fire research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service in British Columbia
• Sarah Budd, provincial information officer of the British Columbia Wildfire Service

Here is their analysis of the wildfires, edited for length and clarity:

No, Canada can’t simply put out all the fires

“I don’t think the U.S. has enough firefighters for these fires, and Canada most certainly does not,” Perrakis said.

Many of the fires have sprung to life in very remote areas, leaving Canadian provinces to decide which fires can and should be fought.

“Canada is the second-largest country in the world,…