United States: Currently, over a hundred active wildfires are burning in Canada, which have led to the drift of smoke across its borders into the United States, which has in turn triggered the state’s first air quality alert of the year by Minnesota officials.
More about active forest fires
As of now, 37 of the 141 active forest fires that are raging in Canadian wildfire grounds got labeled as “out of control,” and one of them started roughly on Friday and is now growing to affect 4,200 acres. It is now causing people to evacuate to Fort Nelson and the Fort Nelson Indian Reserve, according to authorities, ABC News reported.
Most of these active wildfires, almost 90, are in the Northern and Western portions of the provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.
According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, Canada’s National Preparedness Level has been raised to level 2 out of 5, which means “wildland fire activity is increasing within one or more jurisdictions,” ABC News reported.
Smoke from Canada has reached US states
In the US, the fire smoke has reached various states, from Canada to Montana and Wisconsin. However, it becomes heavier in Minnesota, as reported on Sunday, where the air quality alert was also issued by the authorities on Sunday and will keep on being active till Monday.
The air quality Index (AQI) in most parts of northern Minnesota for Monday has been in the range of 150 to 200, characterized as “unhealthy‟ and most times crossing the 200-AQI mark, currently in a “very unhealthy” zone.
On Sunday, Bemidji, a city in Northern Minnesota, turned out to be the worst place in the world, with an AQI level of 212 people reporting that they could actually smell the smoke, and this has troubled the residents living around the area.
As for Minneapolis, medium to heavy smoke would be on its way, causing officials to warn residents, especially those who are allergy-prone, to be sure that their windows won’t let in the smoke through Monday morning.
But early that Monday morning, the wildfire smoke in the US was significantly weaker, with a forecast that medium levels would move through Wisconsin and southern Minnesota, ABC News reported.
AQI of other states in the US
By the time Monday evening sets in Omaha, Nebraska state, the sky will gradually be filled with some hazier smoke shading due to the flow of the wildfire smoke, according to the officials’ report.
So far this is the season, Canadian authorities report over 950 wildfires as of now which is almost triple the number for three weeks ago.
The smoke from wildfires is a problem that worries more and more people across the US and will keep becoming worse, according to the findings of the research published just recently in February.
In June 2023, smoke was covered from the Canadian wildfires in the Northeast and Midwest with a thick, orange haze.
According to AirNow about eighteen states of the US, from Montana to New York and as far south as Georgia were put were alarming poor air quality alerts.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, various health risks are linked with wildfire smoke, causing harm, especially to those with vulnerable health conditions. The health risks include strokes, heart disease, respiratory disease, lung cancer, and early death.
