Canadian wildfire smoke ruining Americans' summer, says letter from Congress members

"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," begins the letter, published Monday and addressed to Ambassador Kirsten Hillman.

It was signed by Republican House representatives Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin and Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach, Pete Stauber and Tom Emmer of Minnesota.

"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," says the letter, which can be read in full here.

The representatives ask how the federal government plans to mitigate the wildfire smoke, attributing "a lack of active forest management" as a major driver of Canadian wildfires, and suggesting that some of the fires began with arson.

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

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Research shows that climate change, largely driven by fossil fuel use, is exacerbating wildfires in both Canada and the United States.

While a proportion of wildfires is caused by human activity — like unattended campfires — and a Quebec man pleaded guilty to arson last year after he was arrested for igniting 14 fires, there is no indication that widespread arson is behind the wildfires.

Lightning causes about half of them and burns the most area, per the Canadian National Fire Database. There are currently 526 active wildfires in Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.