Canada Wildfires Force Evacuations As Smoke Drifts Into the US

The latest emergency has centered on British Columbia, where a fast-moving wildfire near Summerland and Peachland triggered one of the province's largest evacuation events of the year. Authorities declared a provincial state of emergency on August 8 after more than 20,000 people were forced from their homes as the Bald Range wildfire rapidly expanded amid hot, dry, and windy conditions. A wildfire map published by the BC Wildfire Service shows active fires burning across large parts of the province, with concentrations in British Columbia's southern interior and other regions under heightened fire danger.

While the most destructive fires are burning in Canada, wildfire smoke doesn't respect national borders. Smoke from Canadian blazes has repeatedly drifted into the United States this summer, affecting communities across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Earlier smoke outbreaks linked to Canadian wildfires prompted air quality alerts from the National Weather Service (NWS), covering more than a dozen states and affecting more than 100 million Americans, according to ABC News.