Canada battles over 200 wildfires as smoke chokes U.S. Midwest

A surge of over 200 wildfires across Canada has forced tens of thousands to evacuate, with smoke drifting into the U.S. Midwest, triggering health alerts and affecting daily life on both sides of the border.

Canada is in the grip of a severe wildfire emergency, with more than 200 active fires raging across the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta. Of these, 106 have been declared out of control, prompting the evacuation of over 27,000 people.

In Saskatchewan, the situation is particularly critical. Fires have spread over hundreds of thousands of hectares and have breached infrastructure such as the La Ronge airport, disrupting daily life for thousands. “It has impacted like my children, not being able to go to sports practices, events getting cancelled and things like that. We haven’t seen it yet, with these wildfires but I think it’s coming, even today,” said local resident Jered Granley.

The effects of the wildfires extend far beyond Canada’s borders. Smoke from the fires has travelled southward into the United States, severely affecting air quality in the Midwest. Minnesota issued its first-ever maroon air quality alert, denoting “very unhealthy” conditions. The smoke has been detected as far away as Cincinnati, Ohio, and parts of Europe.

Health authorities have urged people in affected areas to stay indoors when possible, reduce outdoor physical activity, and use high-quality masks to protect against fine particulate matter in the air.

To date, more than 1.9 million hectares have burned across the three provinces, a figure experts say is driven by prolonged drought and elevated temperatures — both symptoms of worsening climate change. Environmental scientists caution that such large-scale fire events are likely to become more common, pressing for more robust wildfire response systems and long-term climate resilience plans.

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