- Canada is experiencing its worst fire season on record — but it’s not just a single blaze firefighters are trying to put out
- There are currently more than 568 fires in Canada, with 281 classified as “out of control,” the Canadian Agency Forest Fire Center said
- A forecaster from NOAA’s weather forecasting center said Americans remain at risk of more smoke-filled days until the fires are “fully extinguished.”
The Canadian fires continue to burn and will billow smoke across New York City and the East Coast throughout the summer – experts warn extinguishing efforts could continue into September.
Canada is experiencing its worst fire season on record. Firefighters from all over the country come to help.
As of Sunday afternoon, there were more than 568 fires across Canada, with 281 classified as “out of control,” the Canadian Agency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC) reported.
David Roth, a forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center, told MSN that Americans remain at risk in the coming days that there will be more smoke until the fires are “fully extinguished.”
Meanwhile, Karine Pelletier of SOPFEU, Quebec’s forest firefighting agency, told CBS New York that the agency expects firefighting efforts to continue through September barring heavy rains.
Firefighters fly over a controlled fire site to fight wildfires in Canada’s Quebec province that broke out on June 6. Smoke and haze fill the sky over New York as people walk or moped across the Brooklyn Bridge as air quality remains poor this year. The chart so far shows that the number of wildfires in Canada is steadily increasing
As CBS New York reported, there was a significant improvement in air quality on Sunday, due in part to an SSE wind.
Bruce MacNab, head of Wildland Fire Information Systems at Natural Resources Canada, expects the fires to continue “for a few more weeks”.
“It would take some big rain events to stop them completely,” he said.
Issac Sanchez, battalion chief of communications for Cal Fire, the California Fire Department, told the news agency that “every single fire is an event in its own right.”
“It has its own behavior.” “We can’t attack them in the same way,” he said.
As the fires burn, air quality remains a concern, particularly for those suffering from asthma and other respiratory conditions.
Millions of Americans brace for more days of extreme smoking. Although no one really knows how long the smoke will last, the direction the wind is blowing can mitigate these factors.
The Canadian fires occur in the boreal forest, where there are vast expanses of land with deciduous and coniferous trees. This type of forest consists of different trees that are densely packed. When a fire starts, it burns with higher intensity.
Jain, a researcher with the Canadian Forest Service, told CBS that these boreal forests contain peat that can slow fire — when it’s wet. But he also explained that when the peat is dry, it can burn underground and spread the fire even further.
Weather is an important factor as hot temperatures can intensify a fire Wind can help spread them. While snow and rain help douse the blazes, and the area’s topography as most fires tend to burn uphill.
Fires thrive on fuel, oxygen, and warmer temperatures. They also burn at their own pace and duration, taking weeks or even months to resolve, making it difficult to predict when it will all be over.
The US Capitol in Washington, DC lies under a hazy sky in this aerial view from Air Force One. A freighter navigates the Detroit River as smoke fills the sky obscuring the view of Windsor, Ontario. Images of the Empire State Building seen today was hit by smoke from Canada’s wildfires on Friday
On Wednesday, Washington DC was put on red for air quality as smoke from Canadian wildfires put the city in the unhealthy category while New York City braced for a second layer of smog.
Nearly 90 million people in the US were currently on an unhealthy air quality alert due to the ongoing fires, and the Washington, DC area was on red alert.
Poor air quality continued, with smoke sweeping across the country and triggering air alerts for the entire states of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Delaware and Maryland.
Parts of Kansas, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia were also under warnings, with residents advised to stay indoors if possible.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments announced that air quality in the area would deteriorate significantly due to the smoke and urged residents to limit outdoor activities.
Vulnerable groups such as those with heart and lung conditions have been urged to stay indoors.
In area DC, the US Capitol was blanketed in thick smoke from the wildfires.
Last week, both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York Mayor Eric Adams warned that the smoke that blanketed the city earlier in the month would return.
Chicago also had the worst air quality in the world the world air quality index with a score of 175 AQI, with parts of Michigan scoring higher.
The index is a measure of five common pollutants on a scale of 0 to 500, with a rating above 150 being considered unhealthy.
According to the Index, Washington DC, Minneapolis, Chicago and Detroit all rank in the top ten for the worst air quality on the planet.
The New York City Department of Health has urged people to take precautions as the smoke is expected to “significantly affect” air quality and warned it could reach dangerous levels.