A pall of smoke from wildfires blazing across the western United States and Canada has triggered air quality alerts for millions, as legions of firefighters confront the infernos, including California’s biggest wildfire this year.
Dubbed the Park Fire, the conflagration had engulfed an expanse surpassing Los Angeles in size by Sunday, casting a dark shadow of smoke across the sky and deteriorating air conditions over a vast region of the northwestern US and western Canada. The fire’s footprint stretched over more than 562 square miles (1,455 square kilometers) in inland Northern California.
On Saturday, cooler temperatures and increased humidity lent a hand to firefighters, allowing them to achieve some headway, boosting containment from zero to 12%. Memories of the devastating 2018 Camp Fire that ravaged the neighboring town of Paradise, claiming 85 lives and destroying 11,000 homes, have been evoked by the blaze.
READ MORE: Flaming car pushed into gully among two reasons given for horror wildfires that have engulfed US