Canada’s wildfires a reminder for all

Smoky air: Downtown Washington, DC, is seen shrouded in haze and smoke caused by wildfires in Canada. — Reuters

MASS media headlined more than 500 blazes in Canada, over a third of them in Quebec, burning last Thursday with images of the smoke billowing from the fires and obscuring the New York skyline and the Washington Monument in the United States for several days last week.

Millions of people suffered from the choking haze and heavily smoky air, closing schools and playgrounds and causing what was considered the worst toxic air pollution in recent recorded US history. This cataclysmic crisis has given the world a new picture of the perils of wildfires.