The dense smoke blanketing the state Thursday, July 16 is related to several wildfires in northern Minnesota and Canada, not Wisconsin, said Catherine Koele, a wildfire prevention specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
No active wildfires were in Wisconsin as of the morning of July 16, according to the DNR’s website.
Instead, large fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness of the Superior National Forest in Minnesota and several parts of Canada are producing vigorous heavy-density smoke plumes drifting southeastward toward Wisconsin.
The Canadian wildfires are producing especially dense smoke, causing the majority of the haze across the Midwest and into the Northeast region of the U.S., Koele said.
A majority of these large fires were caused by lightening in remote, dense areas with widespread vegetation that haven’t seen rain in weeks. It isn’t uncommon to see droughts with an increase in fire activity during this time of year, Koele said.
“It definitely seems to be a little earlier this year,” Koele said. “Typically we see these conditions in later August.”
Koele said wildfire season in the region starts in the spring and lasts until late summer. In Wisconsin, data shows the state has averaged about 900 wildfires annually in the last 10 years, burning nearly 2,000 acres annually.
The Great Lakes Region typically sees an uptick in wildfires in the region on Fourth of July weekend. Wisconsin had 13 wildfires in the last week, Koele said. All of them were small, burning a total of less than two acres. Five of them were caused by fireworks.
Koele said the Wisconsin DNR and neighboring Midwest states are sending resources and personnel to assist with the wildfires in Minnesota.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No, the smoke in Wisconsin is not caused by state wildfires
Reporting by Shane Colpoys, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Shane Colpoys, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
