Wildfires rage across over 1 million acres in US, Canada; smoke causes cross-country pollution

Smoke from wildfires in US, Canada has reached as far as New York City where a grey haze shrouded the skyline and the air quality index (AQI) for fine particulate matter reached 170.

Wildfires raging across the western United States and Canada, including a "monster" two-week-old blaze in Oregon, on Tuesday belched smoke and soot that gusted eastward and caused harmful air pollution as far away as New York City. In 13 western states, more than 80 large active wildfires have charred almost 1.3 million acres (526,090 hectares) of drought-parched vegetation in recent weeks, an area larger than Delaware, according to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho.