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Published July 21st, 2026, 06:42 pm

Detroit recorded some of the worst air quality of any city in the world last week. The smoke came from Ontario — and from northern Minnesota, where lightning on July 7 lit fires that closed the Boundary Waters. One of those fires burned across the border into Canada.

Bobbie Scopa fought wildfire for 45 years. She started as a seasonal firefighter in 1974 and retired as an operations section chief — the person on a major fire who decides where the crews go, and where nobody goes at all. She joins Robyn Vincent to explain what's burning, why fire seasons are months longer than they were in the 1970s, and what Michigan should stop expecting. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org

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The Metro

What Michigan gets wrong about wildfire smoke

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32m