BUFFALO, N.Y. — As uncontrollable wildfires continue to burn across Eastern Canada, the effects of Mother Nature’s rage are beginning to be felt in Western New York.
Hazy smoke clouds blanketed the sky above Buffalo, making the Peace Bridge virtually invisible from even just a few miles away.
Overnight, environmental officials issued an air quality alert for the entire region, forcing local schools to cancel all outdoor activities and now shifting the focus for many to how to remedy this problem.
Since the start of the apocalyptic-like scenes in Canada, over 950 firefighters from around the world have been dispatched to provide aid in extinguishing the flames.
Crews attacking on the ground, from the sky and even with fire itself.
But the dilemma for those on the ground — according to wildfire expert Andrew Vander Yacht — is that rushing to get things back to normal could possibly be fueling the fire more down the road.
“The harder that we fight fire, the more risk we are at extreme wildfire behaviors,” Vander Yacht said.
The fire suppression paradox is the idea that while putting out these flames now offers an immediate solution, it also leaves behind untouched shrubs and debris that could one day ignite larger fires — creating a situation even worse than the one we’re experiencing right now.
“We have people's homes, people's livelihoods and resources at risk in the present,” Vander Yacht said. “And we're thinking about some distant future where maybe the accumulative effects of letting some of these wildfires burn would have some positive impact in the future.”
Experts are also concerned that this is just the beginning of the wildfire season, meaning this problem may persist in the summer months.
However, they believe Western New York could see the air quality improve by Saturday.