Woke up this morning, opened my bedroom door, and immediately smelled smoke. (I'd left all the windows open.) I checked the local news for any neighborhood fires, didn't find any yet. So I guess Canadian smoke season is here, despite the map claiming the air quality here is fine. Via CNN:
Massive wildfires burning out of control in western and central Canada are forcing thousands to flee as dire forecasts for the country’s fire season come to fruition. The intensifying blazes are also beginning to send hazardous smoke toward major cities in the United States.
The premiers of Manitoba and Saskatchewan have declared states of emergency, and much of Canada, from the Northwest Territories and Alberta to Ontario, are at “extreme” risk of wildfires on Friday — the highest level on Environment Canada’s fire risk scale.
There are just over 170 wildfires burning across Canada as of Thursday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, and about half are uncontrolled. The country raised its National Preparedness Level to level 5 of 5 on Thursday, which is unusually high for this early in the fire season. Last year, Canada didn’t reach that level until July 15.
In Manitoba, around 17,000 people are under evacuation orders, including the city of Flin Flon, Pimicikamak Cree Nation and the northern community of Cross Lake, along with Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, according to CNN’s Canadian news partner CBC News.
