It seems that people planning on blowing smoke back to where it came from are, in fact, just blowing smoke themselves – but that hasn’t stopped two Grand Forks residents from fighting back.
Earlier this week a Spokane man encouraged fellow residents to put box fans on their roofs to “blow Spokane’s smoke away to Canada.” The act of defiance against Canadian wildfire smoke is set to happen Friday at noon, according to the Facebook event.
Through “much deliberation and mathematical calculation,” Moon determined that if each of Spokane’s 550,000 residents uses five box fans, and turns them on in unison, smoke from Canadian wildfires will drift back across the border.
In response, Liam Sullivan and Sam Anderson of Grand Forks created the “Blow Spokane smoke back to Spokane” event, set for Friday at 1 p.m.
“We are gonna work together to blow the smoke back to spokane. They thought we wouldn’t do anything about them blowing the smoke our way,” organizers wrote on the event page. “But they are wrong, we’re all gonna set up fans and other air devices to blow all of the smoke back to them. Its a flawless plan.”
So far, nearly 200 people indicate they are interested or planning on taking part. But, the plan is not without controversy.
“And so it begins…may the best fans win!” Moon wrote on the Canadian event page.
For others, the decision was a tough one.
“I’m conflicted. I’m a Canadian living in Spokane,” one woman wrote.
But on both sides of the border, wildfire smoke is taking a toll. In some of B.C. air quality is worse than found in parts of India, and a new app compares the air quality where you live to equivalent cigarettes smoked.