Hundreds of wildfires – smoke drifts across the US

 

TT 

 

Published 21:53

  

The smoke of the fires lies thick over Toronto, Canada. The picture was taken on July 15. Photo: Laura Proctor/AP/TT

Hundreds of wildfires are raging across Canada. Hazardous smoke has spread to large parts of the northern US.

A majority of the more than 850 fires are not under control, writes the authority that monitors wildfires in the country.

Fires in northwestern Ontario have brought smoke and unhealthy air quality to the cities of Thunder Bay and Toronto.

Northwesterly winds have also carried the smoke south to the US. Warnings for hazardous air have been issued for the region around the Great Lakes on the border between the countries, as well as in the two northeastern US states of Michigan and Minnesota, writes the BBC.

The gray-yellow smoke from the fire has spread as far south as New York, the AP news agency reports.

Large forest fires occur annually in Canada but are occurring more frequently in the eastern parts of the country in step with climate change, according to the BBC.