Editor’s Note: This commentary was received on Monday, Aug. 11, before an Enterprise article published on Aug. 15

Late afternoon, Aug. 3, I drove out to Norman Ridge, that bastion of expansive views where, that day, I photographed a sickly sun, pinkish red, sinking out of sight a half-hour before sunset into a smoke-obscured sky. A chilling scene, despite the heat of its origin.

On July 9, the BBC had carried a story on its website with a banner photo, shot from an aircraft, of a lake-spangled forested area of Manitoba, beneath billowing orange and gray smoke, toward a distant, horizon-spanning wall of flames towering above the trees it consumed. But this story (carried two days later by the New York Times) was not about the wildfires that, in May and June alone, had driven 30,000 Canadians from their homes. Oh, no.

Here’s the BBC’s headline: “US lawmakers write to Canada to complain that its wildfire smoke is spoiling summer.” On July 7, Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany, with five other Republican members of Congress from Minnesota and Wisconsin, wrote to the Canadian ambassador in Washington stating that “summer … [is] the best time of year to be outdoors” but that their “constituents have been limited in their ability to go outside and safely breathe due to the dangerous air quality the wildfire smoke has created.” (Full text at https://tinyurl.com/273tdtez)

There is no question that wildfire smoke can ruin a sunny day and can be dangerous in high enough concentrations, especially for those with lung, heart, or allergy issues. The same day that I went to Norman Ridge, a friend of mine canceled kayaking plans as a precaution because she has asthma. Did she write an indignant letter to the Canadian ambassador? She did not.

Now, here’s the repugnant thing about Tiffany et al’s complaint. It’s the finger-pointing embedded in the sentence: “We would like to know how your government plans on mitigating wildfire and the smoke that makes its way south.”

Perhaps not knowing (or maybe not caring) about the dynamics of the situation on the ground up north, Tiffany and company reflexively resort to accusation. It’s part of the Trumpian compulsion to blame: in this case, for what they claim is poor forest management — subtext, the Canadians are incompetent — and arson — subtext, the Canadians are criminals. It doesn’t seem to matter that 93 percent of the Canadian fires are started by lightning, according to the Canadian Fire Institute … often in regions so remote that neither prevention nor mitigation efforts are effective there.

I don’t know, Tom. What would you suggest? Maybe an enormous sprinkler system. Maybe a miles-high wall along the border. Or maybe making Canada the 51st state really is the answer. Then there will be no one to blame because they will be us, and we’ll have it all under control.

Somehow, Mr. Tiffany and the other five are able to stomach themselves engaging in this empty gesture of concern for their constituents’ well-being while they and their comrades in the castrato Congress strip the same constituents of healthcare benefits — which include support for small rural hospitals and assistance to enable seniors and the disabled to receive long-term care — food programs for those who lack the means to buy themselves or their children a decent meal, and on and on.

Originally, I’d written that — considering New York 21 adjoins the Canadian border — I was surprised Elise Stefanik hadn’t signed on to Tiffany’s complaint; but, now, she’s written her own, cosigned by Rep. Nick Langworthy, NY-23 (Enterprise, Aug. 8). The talking points are the same, with emphasis on “air quality,” “forest mismanagement and lack of deterrence of human-caused fire.” The Stefanik letter, sent directly to Canadian PM Mark Carney, is, however, less heavy-handed than Tiffany’s and encourages “cooperation between agencies on both sides of the border.” (Full text at https://tinyurl.com/56ffa3a5)

Nowhere in the Tiffany letter is there even a shadow of sympathy. No expression of concern for the displaced Canadians. No inquiry of “how can we help?” Such outreach — once standard in American foreign relations — is apparently not part of the “America First” repertoire.

I think of my brother-in-law in Oregon who lived for weeks with a go-bag by the front door, all the essentials in a small package he could grab when, at a moment’s notice, he would have to flee to uncertain safety, never knowing if he’d have a home to return to. Thankfully, his town has escaped that level of threat, this season … thus far. But not so for those 30,000 Canadians. They have endured danger and fear that we have been spared, and which most of us cannot imagine, while the six representatives from the Upper Midwest engage in performative whining over murky skies, creepy sunsets, and a bad smell in the air. My heart goes out to our northern neighbors who have had to run for their lives from the inferno that had once been their home. The best I can do for Tom Tiffany and his crew is hope they never have to do the same.

In the Kaibab National Forest and Grand Canyon National Park, the Dragon Bravo fire has ravaged more than 126,000 acres (New York Times, Aug. 5). Mayor Don Johnson of Fredonia, AZ — one of the towns impacted by the blaze — issued a wildfire emergency declaration in which he called for, among other things, better forest management. And Arizona’s Governor, Katie Hobbs, has ordered an investigation into the federal government’s fire management strategy regarding this fire, which has been burning since July 4. As of Aug. 5, it was the largest wildfire in the United States … and it was only 13 percent contained. Driven by a “persistent” southwest wind, some Dragon Bravo smoke could be moving into Canada and mixing with the Canadian smoke before returning south over Minnesota and Wisconsin (and maybe even Norman Ridge).

Will Tom Tiffany and his allies complain to the US Forest Service? Nah. After all, it’s American smoke, so it’s okay.

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Phil Gallos lives in Saranac Lake.