Wildfire smoke from Canada pushed Toronto, New York and Washington into the ranks of the world’s most polluted cities as hundreds of Canadian wildfires continued to spread haze across North America. Local health officials in several cities warned residents to cut back on time outdoors because of the smoke, which was drifting south from Ontario and other hard-hit areas.
Canadian officials said on Saturday that fire activity in Ontario was beginning to ease, and they expected air quality to improve in US cities later in the day. Even so, the smoke remained a serious problem across the region, with many fires still out of control. The blazes have forced evacuations, damaged homes and infrastructure, and left one First Nation community in northern Ontario devastated.
The situation is especially severe in Ontario and along the US border in Minnesota. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre said 955 wildfires were actively burning across Canada, including nearly 200 in Ontario. More than a dozen fires were also burning along the northern edge of Minnesota, covering more than 73,000 acres. Officials there have called the situation unprecedented and have already put an emergency declaration in place to help bring in suppression resources.
Matthew Hoppe, the incident commander for Namaygoosisagagun First Nation, told the BBC that the community was completely levelled by the fires in northern Ontario. He said residents had to evacuate themselves by small boats on Monday afternoon as the flames moved quickly toward them. He said there were no deaths or direct injuries, but the damage was total. Other communities in Ontario remain under evacuation orders, and officials have reported property damage.
