Smoke from the fires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is blanketing the Midwest and Northeast United States.
Thousands of people have evacuated their homes across parts of the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where officials have declared a state of emergency and crews are working to contain dozens of out-of-control wildfires.
The smoke has spread to over a third of the United States, with large parts of the Midwest under air quality advisories that have expanded into the Northeast. The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert on Wednesday for New York City and the surrounding areas.
The fires are intensifying, and two people were killed in May after a small town in Manitoba was engulfed in flames. Their deaths were an ominous start to Canada’s wildfire season, which usually runs from March until October.
Where are the wildfires burning?
About 2.3 million acres have burned across both Saskatchewan and Manitoba, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Manitoba’s out-of-control wildfires are burning mainly on its northwest border with Saskatchewan. In Saskatchewan, the fire activity is also mostly concentrated in the north.
