Canada's wildfires are getting worse
More than 3.5 million hectares of land have burned so far this year in what is on track to be one of Canada's most destructive fire seasons in recent years, according to estimates by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System.
That's around 10 times higher than would be normal for the month — and almost on par with the entirety of the 2017 fire season, Jenna Moon reports.
Millions of residents across the U.S. and Canada are under air quality warnings as smoke from the fires spreads across North America. For more on Canada's historic fire season, read the full story here.
Smokey Bear was wrong about wildfires
Many western forests need frequent, low-severity wildfires to thrive. But in the 20th century, the US government vowed to put out all forest fires and outlawed traditional burning by indigenous peoples. Most experts think that this policy contributed to denser forests — and the massive, deadly wildfires that now race through them.
Watch above for the latest episode of The Agenda, our series about the policy problems at the top of Washington's to-do list and the people trying to solve them, and subscribe to Semafor on YouTube for more of our videos.