LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Smoke from wildfires burning in three Canadian provinces has been moving across the Midwest this week. Yesterday, Wisconsin had the worst air quality in the country. Corrinne Hess with Wisconsin Public Radio spoke to people there.
CORRINNE HESS, BYLINE: The air is thick and hazy in downtown Milwaukee. That's where I meet Katie Kreutzmann (ph), who just came out of a local coffee shop. She says she first noticed a change in the air on Tuesday. It started when she had trouble seeing the buildings in the city's downtown, then by how difficult it was to breathe.
KATIE KREUTZMANN: I know that I have asthma, and I know other people who have asthma have had - like, it's been, like, gross recently. I've had more trouble breathing.
HESS: Officials advise people here to limit outdoor activities and urges them to go inside if they've had symptoms like coughing, heart palpitations or shortness of breath. At least one preschool has kept children indoors. Michaela Heeren is a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wisconsin. She says a cold front should give residents some relief from the Canadian wildfires after today.
MICHAELA HEEREN: As that cold front lifts its way out of the area, we should start to see a return to more southerly flow, which would take that smoke and lift it back northward into Canada.
HESS: Bad air from Canada wildfires is not new to this region. It happened in 2023. Meteorologists say the air then was even worse. This year's fires have affected much of the Midwest, but Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota have gotten the brunt of it so far. Milwaukee resident Curley Harris (ph) says he's tired of extreme weather events and forest fires.
CURLEY HARRIS: We need to fix that first. Take that serious. We just have to live with it until everybody come to their senses, realize that good quality of the air is good for human beings.
HESS: The wildfires in Canada have caused thousands of people to evacuate and have burned close to 5 million acres. As of Tuesday, there were more than 200 active fires still burning. According to Canadian authorities, half of those are out of control.
For NPR News, I'm Corrinne Hess in Milwaukee.
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