Residents in Spokane, Washington have found a curious solution to the problem of wildfire smoke hanging in the air: they want to get a bunch of fans together and blow all the smoke towards Canada.
No, seriously.
The Facebook event, created by Caleb Moon, has thousands of people intrigued, as it instructs Spokane residents to put 5 box fans on their roofs and point them towards Canada.
“After much deliberation and mathematical calculation, we have figured that it is absolutely possible for us to blow this smoke away with high powered fans,” reads the event page.
Some took it seriously
A quick look through the comments on the page shows that the event is a joke, and the American education system is not as in dire need of help as we may think.
However a Global News story reports that Moon was actually serious about his idea. This is quickly refuted by the founder of the event in a comment section on the Facebook page.
“When I did the phone interview with global news, I told them we were obviously not serious,” he wrote in a discussion thread.
Other visitors to the page were also flabbergasted by the idea of people seriously using fans to blow wildfire smoke to Canada.
“This post illustrates perfectly why the USA needs to invest billions more in public education,” writes Greg Elzinga.
“If your comment about blowing the smoke northeastward is correct, don’t you realize that your fans will suck in even MORE smoke from the burning fires?” writes Patricia Hicks.
“What are you going to do about the smoke from California, blow it to Canada, too? Are you really so ignorant that you actually think this would work?”
But most people loved the joke
Of course, for the most part the event resulted in some hearty back-and-forth banter between Canadians and our neighbours down south.
“I’m cleaning my fans and oiling the motors in preparation for Friday! Thank goodness we installed new ceiling fans in the kids’ rooms!” jokes Angela Schumann Bina.
“Looks like your leader wants a part in this too…if only operating a fan were as easy as being President,” writes Kyle Williams, adding a photo of US President Donald Trump into the mix.
A similarly hilarious (yet somehow still controversial) Facebook event popped up at around the same time, called “Throw rocks at the smoke to make it go away“.
This one advises people to throw rocks towards Canada, and has about 11,000 people (including hundreds of Canadians) promising to attend.
