FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) – Ecologist and professor at the University of Saint Francis, Louise Weber, said this isn’t the first time the wildfires in Canada have impacted the local air quality.
But because it’s an El Niño year, the effects we’re experiencing this year are worse than years past.
“El Niño is when currents in the Pacific get disrupted, so that areas that are commonly wet get dry, and areas that are commonly dry get wet,” she said. “That’s why we’re having floods in Texas and fires in Canada.”
Weber said climate change also creates situations where there are more dead trees on the ground to catch fire.
In a phone interview with South Bend station WNDU, Senator Jim Banks took aim at Canada’s response to the fires.
“I think it’s time to sanction Canada,” he said. “Hold them accountable for it. They should pay the cost of it.”
“They should, they should supplement the healthcare costs for Hoosiers and for Americans who are affected by this.”
He also posted on Facebook, “If they don’t fix this, we will.”
Weber said minimizing the fires is difficult.
“It’s very hard for anybody to fight these fires in some of the really remote areas of Northern Canada,” she said. “There just aren’t very many roads, and because of the continued drought, some of the waterways are not available.”
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