After a week of smoke, a look at Canada's approach to fighting wildfires differently

CHRIS FARRELL: You're listening to Minnesota Now. And I'm Chris Farrell, and I'm filling in for Nina Moini. The state of Minnesota is taking a breath of fresh air today, after nearly a week-long air quality alert due to wildfire smoke out of Canada. And while the state was impacted by the smoke, it is far from the fires on the ground to the north in Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Here with the details on the fires, as well as Canada's response to them, is Mike Flannigan with Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada. Professor Flannigan, thanks for joining us. So there are fires burning all over Canada right now. Minnesota was mostly affected by the smoke that's coming from Manitoba and Saskatchewan. So can you paint me a picture of just how big the fires are in those two provinces?

MIKE FLANNIGAN: So we're seeing a very active fire season in Canada. Area burned is larger than the state of West Virginia thus far. And our fire season is far from over. Many of these fires are under control. Some are being actioned. That means we're trying to put them out. But about 300 are what we call monitored fires, i.e. we just watch them. If they move towards something of value, a community or critical infrastructure, then we take action. This means that there's lots of smoke being produced. And when the winds blow them, you know, like Canada is famous for cold fronts, hockey players, and now, unfortunately, smoke.

CHRIS FARRELL: Yes. So it's been, as I understand it, at least breathing the air down here, it's been an active fire year up there. And what accounts for that? What's behind this active fire year?

MIKE FLANNIGAN: Well, our climate is changing, and we're getting warmer. And the warmer we get, the more fire we see. And people say, hold on. Why is temperature so important? And for individual fires like the campfire or the fires in Los Angeles in January, wind is quite critical. But I'm talking about fire over a large area, like a province of Manitoba or a state like Minnesota, three things-- the warmer it gets, the longer our fire seasons are. Second, the warmer we get, the more lightning we expect. And Canada, half our fires are started by lightning. But they're responsible for 90% of the area burned.

And the third reason, the most important, is, as the temperature warms, the ability to suck moisture out of the dead forest fuels-- needles, leaves, twigs, grass-- increases rapidly. So unless we see more rain to compensate for this drying effect from the warming, our fuels are going to be drier. And that's exactly what's happening. We have drier fuels, and it's easier for a fire to start, whether it's a campfire or a lightning strike.

CHRIS FARRELL: And of course, we've been talking here in Minnesota about the effect down here. But how about people up in Canada? What's been the effect of the wildfires north?

MIKE FLANNIGAN: There's been over 30,000 people evacuated. And the more we know about smoke, the more we realize how bad it is for human health. And so avoid vigorous exercise. Stay indoors. Air purifiers are great.

And these are things we should be using, things like masks, N95 masks that we wore during COVID were actually developed for wildland fire smoke. And they're very effective, if fitted properly, at reducing how much smoke gets into our lungs. I mean, it affects our respiratory system, but also affects brain function, fetal development. It's just bad news all over the place.

CHRIS FARRELL: So now, as I understand it, and you're going to clarify this, the wildland firefighting philosophy is different in Canada than it is here in the US. So lay out the differences.

MIKE FLANNIGAN: Well, I'll talk about there's some common features that allow us to share resources. Right now, firefighters from Minnesota or Manitoba are helping us fight fires. But we are somewhat different. Fire management is the responsibility of the landowner. So in Canada, we have 10 provinces that do fire management. Two of the three territories do fire management. There is fire in that third territory, Nunavut. But they just let Mother Nature take the course.

So each province or territory or federal agency, Parks Canada also fights fires. They all do it a bit differently. And in some provinces, like Manitoba, they make a determination of whether to fight that fire or to monitor it. And our country has a vast boreal forest, and fire is natural. It's the ecology of our forests.

And the trees survive, thrive in this regime of semi-regular, stand-replacing, stand-renewing, high-intensity fire. And they have strategies. Jack pine, black spruce have serotinous cones. And it's a waxy resin. And you actually need the heat from the fire to open the cone for the next generation of those conifers. So this means we see a lot of smoke from these fires on years where the weather's conducive to it.

In Canada, our area burned has quadrupled since the 1970s. And that means more fire, more smoke. But Western United States area burned has also quadrupled. And there, most fires are fought, though recently, the Grand Canyon fire, the Dragon Bravo fire was being monitored and, unfortunately, did a lot of damage.

CHRIS FARRELL: And how do you evaluate the differences in these policies? I mean, do you feel that Canada should be following more the US model and fighting more of the fires, or should the US be following more the Canadian and let more of this burn?

MIKE FLANNIGAN: First off, my hat goes off-- go off to fire fighters. It's a hard job. It's a hot job. It's a smoky job. And they're doing the best job possible. They're professional, well-trained in Canada and United States. But clearly, we're losing the battle, OK? And it's time to take a different approach. As I mentioned, [INAUDIBLE] in Canada has quadrupled, as in Western United States, despite the philosophy differences.

We should work with Mother Nature when and where possible. So if a fire starts 2 kilometers from Bemidji, you put it out, OK? But if it starts in the Boundary Waters Canoe area, it may be beneficial. And people say, how is fire beneficial? Well, besides being the natural ecology of that region, things like spruce budworm, it's a great agent, knocking down the spruce budworm. In Western United States, mountain pine beetle-- fire's a great agent for knocking down that.

So you make a determination of what to do with that fire as soon as it arrives. So detection is really important, as is prevention. In Canada, half our fires are started by people. These aren't generally arson fires. Arson is a really small percentage of fires. These are accidental fires, but they're preventable.

United States, it's more like 80% to 90% of your fires are started by people. So an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So things like fire bans, very effective if followed. Forest closures, where we actually close the forest to industry, as well as recreation, as you can imagine, very unpopular, but very effective at stopping human-caused fires.

CHRIS FARRELL: So I'm curious, what do you wish Americans knew better about these fires in Canada?

MIKE FLANNIGAN: Well, it's just Mother Nature doing her thing. And it's part of the ecology. And unfortunately, when the wind blows a certain way, we're going to see the effects of smoke. That's the thing about smoke. You can be 1,000 kilometers or 1,000 miles, if you prefer, away, and your air quality can be in the tank for a week or longer. And your quality of life can be in the tank. And that's the problem with smoke.

And, yeah, until we do something about human-caused climate change-- I want to be clear here, the increases we're seeing are almost completely attributable, largely not solely, to human-caused climate change. I can't be any clearer than that. We're getting warmer, and we're going to see more fire in Canada, as well as the United States.

I mean, it's been mostly concentrated in the West of North America. But as we warm, I think we're going to see even more fire in Eastern North America. In 2023, the fires in Quebec smoked out the Eastern seaboard, 100 million people, because of fires 1,000 kilometers away. I'm afraid we're going to see more of it.

CHRIS FARRELL: So very quickly, I mean, that's really striking because how do you make climate change real? Well, one way is water. I always thought, you can see it with water. And now you're saying smoke is the reality of climate change.

MIKE FLANNIGAN: Yeah, it is.

CHRIS FARRELL: Well--

MIKE FLANNIGAN: It's here. It's the new reality.

CHRIS FARRELL: Well, thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate it.

MIKE FLANNIGAN: Great talking to you, Chris.

CHRIS FARRELL: That was Mike Flannigan with Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada.