Wildfire-hit British Columbia blanketed with hazardous smoke pollution

A boat passes under the Lions Gate bridge to enter Vancouver Harbour, shrouded in a haze of wildfire smoke, as seen from Cypress Mountain in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, August 21, 2023. REUTERS/Chris Helgren

REVELSTOKE, British Columbia (Reuters) - Millions of people in the western Canadian province of British Columbia were under air quality warnings on Monday as hundreds of wildfires filled the skies with smoke and turned the sun orange.

In the cities of Kelowna and Kamloops, the air quality index (AQI) was above 350, a "hazardous" level, real-time air quality information platform IQAir showed. AQI measures major pollutants including particulate matter produced by fires.