Public sentiment is marked by significant concern regarding deteriorating air quality due to wildfires, with strong expressions of personal health impacts, frustration over inadequate forest management, and urgent calls for climate action. There is substantial anger aimed at government negligence, alongside advocacy for improved management practices, particularly relating to indigenous land stewardship. Notably, a minority dismisses climate change, attributing wildfires to other causes, highlighting a divide in public opinion.

Government authorities

Climate change activists

Indigenous land management groups

In my experience, in BC, it was rare in the 90s-2015. A big fire would cause news articles about how it could affect the year's tourist season. Now, it seems guaranteed every year, like an extra season of the year is fires. It would be a newsworthy event if we didn't get drenched in smoke this year, a cool, rare exception. That's how it seems to me.

I live in a valley in BC, so smoke tends to settle in the region. But it used to be an exception. Now, if there was no smoke, it would be surprising. It's likely an effect of global warming/climate change. 

It would be great to have a year off without the haze this summer. Fingers crossed

TSM-

There are a couple contributing factors.  The first and biggest is forest mismanagement.  Native Americans used controlled burns to remove undergrowth that would spread wildfires, this prevents the annual out of control wildfires that are part of life on the West Coast.  The second is water mismanagement.  Western water law is basically 'use as much water as you want.'  East of the Mississippi River the water laws are designed to prevent overuse, I don't remember a drought east of the Mississippi River.  West of it the laws were designed to encourage people to move west and establish farms and cities and later factories and other businesses.  States use more water than precipitation can replace.  So states use ground water from aquifers.  When it does rain and snow, the water has to replace ground water before there can be more surface water.

There is no universal definition of drought.  The working definition is when there is not enough precipitation to replace the water that was used.  The Colorado River was overallocated in a year when it had record levels.  And states (especially California) use more than the amount of water they are allocated.  The Colorado River used to reach Mexico, now it may not even make it Phoenix before it runs dry.

My solution would be to place Native American tribal governments in charge of all forest management.  But that won't happen, politicians on the West Coast would rather let their states burn to the ground than give up any power.

Fun-Organization-144

every year the winters come later and the summers earlier. and every year the wildfires grow closer

[deleted]

It is a century of forest mismanagement. Fire is a natural part of the much of the western North American ecosystem. Many tree species depend on fire to propagate. Like an apex predator, it kept the ecosystem in balance. Native Americans recognized this and occasionally used fire to renew forests.

When Euro-Americans populated the west, they cut down a lot of lumber to build, especially during the California gold rush and Comstock silver bonanza. A lot of the trees removed were replanted were different species that grew faster, but weren't adapted to a particular micro-climate. It took decades for that growth to mature. In many instances, the trees were uniform in height, making a canopy fire more likely, and easier to spread.

In the early 20th century, we began to actively fight forest fires instead of letting them burn. This led to massive overgrowth in many areas. When there are more trees competing for the same amount of water, they are weakened and are susceptible to disease and pests, such as the bark beetle. This kills the trees and turns them into highly flammable fuel. Those that aren't diseased, have less fuel moisture, thus making them more susceptible to burning.

Now we can't just let the fires burn, because many people live in those areas. But often times we have no choice because the fires get so massive and out of control, we can't stop them. One of our best options is to thin the trees. Much like weeding a garden, it allows the trees we want to grow have less competition for water, nutrients and sunlight, allowing them to be more fire-resistant.

While climate change is sure to exacerbate the problem, we've seen worse. Because California has some of the oldest living plants on earth, such as the Giant Sequoia and the Bristlecone Pine, researchers have analyzed tree-ring data indicating that the West has seen much worse. We have had droughts that have lasted centuries. Despite some of our recent droughts, we are still in a wet-and-cool-period. Our forests were adapted to withstand whatever nature had in store. We fucked it all up. Now we've got to fix it.

[https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/01/25/california-drought-past-dry-periods-have-lasted-more-than-200-years-scientists-say/](https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/01/25/california-drought-past-dry-periods-have-lasted-more-than-200-years-scientists-say/)

Nahuel-Huapi

We keep building deeper into the brush. Nimbys don't want brush cleared. Add drier, warmer climates and it's a recipe for disaster.

Johnnadawearsglasses

People setting fires

Blame climate change 

🙄

Come to Alaska, at least a million acres burned every summer.

ChimpoSensei

Dapper-Tomatillo-875

dopescopemusic

Majestic_Operator

Every summer and it's getting worse faster every year. One day you'll be telling kids about blue summer skies and they'll be confused because theirs are orange.

Destructopoo

Dong_of_Dongs

&gt; air pollution from wildfires every fucking summer?


One of the most annoying things about this is sometimes the wildfire smoke will get soooo bad you'll feel compelled to run out and buy like a $200+ air purifier. 2020 and 2021 were especially bad in my area, 2020 was basically "the sky looks like Mordor outside" for several months 😵😷


...then like 2 weeks later the smoke randomly stops, so you go refund your purchase... then more wildfire smoke from a ***different*** wildfire starts blowing in (perhaps from some other state or from Canada) and you feel tempted to buy another air purifier, but then you hesitate because hey "it might just go away on it's own in a few weeks" 🤦‍♂️


Just the "ping-pong" nature of this bullshit (as described above) in the summers is a big pet peeve of mine 🙄 And when the smoke is short-lived (such as really bad smoke for a couple weeks, but then it dies down or the wind changes direction) it makes you regret running out to drop $200+ on a fancy air cleaner

ElGordo1988

You can Google it. There's all kinds of charts showing that the number of Acres of burn are way down over the past Century.

Trees grow. Whole bunch of brush builds up underneath. Then we have a dry. Then fire. Been that way forever.

phred0095

climate change is a hoax... there is no horrors from it, just look at all the stupid predictions that have fallen flat over the last 30-40 years... all these predictions of the oceans flooding the shores, of the oceans receding away too far, of food famine and shortages, etc etc etc etc.... the list just goes on and on, and they have all been wrong, because they are all based on lies...

XemptOne

2023 was a brutal year for the dust and Canadian wildfire air quality

Edit: was the sickest I’ve ever been after a music festival. Have learned a lot about precautions to take since then!

dollfacedx

Make sure you bring distilled water for the Neti pot, too! Don't use water from the water stations.

volkodlok

I have a buddy that’s currently on vacation in Traverse City(farther north than Rothbury), and he’s told me the air is absolutely fine. No haze whatsoever. I’m cautiously optimistic. But definitely bring a Neti pot or nasal rinse and do it 2 or 3 times a day

YouAlwaysHaveAChoice

Yeah as it's been here for like a week I'm worried it won't clear up.   
  
I plan to give away hundreds of sealed aura n95s :) like PM 2.5 from the smoke, the masks help with dust too!

RidiculousNicholas55

I was just in Chicago for beyond... air quality was ass.  Snot is black, throat is sore.  Not sick sore, like i was standing in front of a camp fire breathing sore.

Welders nose filters all the time and masks for when you are walking around and mouth breathing

nope051393

I use the AirNow app which shows you the particulate levels for a location.

https://preview.redd.it/rwr4utc8nz5f1.jpeg?width=891&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=aa5560c8cd74517bc3c9b51266e87b4b72db107e

I forgot about the wildfires last week and mowed the lawn and did some yardwork. Probably about 4 hours total outside. Had me struggling most of the week.

Each person is going to have their own tolerance for the particulate levels during Forest. The only real protection from this is a KN95 or N95 mask. 3M makes a really nice one with a padded bridge. 3M Aura Particulate N95 Respirator 9205+ Saline, netti pot, etc might help clear your nose out but they can't clear out the particulate that gets into your lungs thoughout the day. If you're someone that is sensitive to bad air environments you may need to wear a mask the whole festival and possibly even when sleeping. That might not sound comfortable but a mask for a few days will save you a lot of breathing issues for a week or two (or more) after.

Again checking the an air quality app like AirNow could help determine if a mask is needed or not. I live in Grand Rapids which is south of Rothbury and we had a day up to 130 which is orange and bad for people wuth sensitivities but mostly been 90 and today down to 65.

Rothbury has been steady around 61-65, some people might not experience too much issues but other people could be very affected.

The primary reason why this is so bad is that it's the particulate from the fires, so ash and smoke. It travels so far that you can't see it but you're still breathing it in. For some people it could be the same as sitting in a room full of smokers.

Be careful and keep your lungs safe!

Zanonomicon

And so is forcing everyone back into offices. Which accelerates climate change which is increasing fire numbers and intensity.


Way to go!

WorkingOnBeingBettr

In over 30 years in this country the last few years have had the worst air quality I can remember, by far.  Combined with the weirdness of winter weather it is pretty obvious climate change is making its presence known

Former-Physics-1831

Time to lock down the bush and ban the outdoors!

Outrageous_Thanks551

Perhaps we should actually prosecute arsonists.

onegunzo

Climate change is the greatest threat to public health of the 21st century. Poor AQ is an enormous burden to our already overburdened healthcare system and will cost us a lot of money as well as cause premature deaths and the loss of QALYs. As others have said, this will be one of the most mild summers of the rest of your lives. Climate action now!

Extra-Ad-7289

Sounds like we need another tax!

That's right, another tax will solve the issue!

DemonInjected

Several geniuses were involved in the calculations for this one.

ernapfz

Okay, and?

It's not like there's much they can do about it, and it's just a temporary decrease. It's not like wildfires are permanent.

Neglectful_Stranger

Not to get controversial here, but is anyone sick of the news talking about "indigenous fire practices" like  controlled burns are some mystical secret protected by Native American shamans? It seems weirdly infantalizing in a way I can't put my finger on, and it pretends to be a simple answer to a complex problem? We've done controlled burns for decades--I have no idea how far back but plenty far. The issue is not that firefighters don't understand burning. It's that it's expensive to set up and still a huge political risk. I feel like there's a college student who could find the PC term for people acting like Native people are magical and can solve all our problems, but I'm really tired of this framing.

EyeRollMole

I honestly have no idea what the message this graph is trying to say.

 “Hey fire = bad”  for 85% of it, then it in small print “indingenous fire = good “. 

Have better propaganda

Lol. The internet is great. I love incorrect propaganda.

Rradsoami

Clearly made by someone with no knowledge of fire ecology and very questionable statistics

Ok_Professional_9206

ssgtsilerZ

In northern MI, we’ve had quite a few air quality alerts - I could smell and see the smoke over my fields. Because of health issues, I had to stay indoors on many days  which felt like near torture for this outside oriented person. Of course, my heart ached for Canada, its people and critters.

There are wildfires all over our state. The air quality is bad. One just topped 100,000 acres.

I’m not masking up yet, but if it gets worse where I live I’ll consider it.

bascule

Air quality in San Diego has been very good.

CompetitiveAccess613

Now that East Coasters are uncomfortable, it's finally serious.

DanoPinyon

Western NY… awful here. Read an article wildfire smoke is linked to lung cancer and brain tumors 

Snoobunny3910

I've become numb to this after nearly a decade of having a fire season. 2020 will forever be the worst in my mind, until the next one. But I've seen enough fires and had enough ash rain on me to know this is the new normal in August and Sept.

rockerode

Fires in Canadian boreal forests are needed, the ecosystem and trees have adapted to it over millions of years. Jack pine and lodgepole pine depend on fire to regenerate, there lifecycle depends on it. See [resources Canada.](https://natural-resources.canada.ca/forest-forestry/wildland-fires/fire-ecology) It would be more harmful if fires stopped/overly-suppressed.

&gt;Fire is a vital and natural part of Canada’s forests. Many plants and animals depend on it for survival.

Further...the boreal forests are burning [much less often.](https://www.preventionweb.net/news/forest-fires-north-americas-boreal-forests-are-burning-lot-less-150-years-ago)

&gt;downward trend in burned areas over the past few centuries.

&gt;We gathered 16 studies that had independently applied the same method to different areas across North American boreal forests, from Alaska to Québec. After reanalysis of all this data in what scientists call a “meta-analysis,” the results are striking: North American boreal forests burned much more 150 years ago than they do today. In the earliest period covered by our data, **between 1700 and 1850, the annual area burned was between two and more than 10 times greater than what has been observed over the past 40 years**

While Smoke is inconvenient, but that's a human problem, the forests don't care, forest fires are needed, and are happening less often.

Illustrious_Pepper46

Recent reports indicate that wildfires, exacerbated by climate change, contribute significantly to global air pollution, affecting public health.

Wildfires and Air Pollution

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