(The Center Square) – Frustrations are growing at the Wisconsin Capitol after a second day of smoke and haze from Canada’s still-burning wildfires.
Pretty much all of Wisconsin started Friday under an Air Quality Alert. The state’s Department of Natural Resources on Thursday issued a warning for people who have breathing troubles.
“The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is recommending Wisconsinites reduce their time outdoors,” the department said in a statement. “People with heart or lung disease, older adults and children should consider making outdoor activities shorter and less intense and reducing heavy exertion. Consider rescheduling or moving events indoors.”
The Department of Natural Resources said it will monitor the smoke and air quality “on a day-to-day basis through the weekend.”
Northern Wisconsin state Rep. Calvin Callahan, R-Tomahawk, wants more than just dealing with the smoke.
“People in northern Wisconsin are fed up with waking-up to hazy skies and hazardous air because Canada refuses to get its forest fires under control,” Callahan said. “This is a public-health crisis, an economic burden, and an affront to our way of life. Canada’s mismanagement is hurting Wisconsinites.”
Callahan said this is the second straight summer that Canadian wildfire smoke has left the northern part of the state in a haze.
“Canada’s mismanagement and inadequate prevention of its forest wildfires are becoming our problem, and that’s not acceptable,” Callahan added. “Our farmers, loggers, and small business owners don’t get to shrug off their responsibilities and neither should Canada.”
As of Friday morning, the Department of Natural Resources was reporting four counties in northern Wisconsin were dealing with “unhealthy air.” While all or parts of nine others, including Milwaukee County, were dealing with potentially unhealthy air quality.
