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Millions of people across the Upper Midwest and the Northeast are under air quality alerts Monday, as smoke from wildfires in Canada drift over the region. Hazy skies are expected in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, northern Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Delaware and Maine, according to the National Weather Service. Almost 200 wildfires are burning out of control in Canada, including 81 in Saskatchewan, 159 in Manitoba and 61 in Ontario. Figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center indicate that more than 16.5 million acres have been scorched so far this year in what will likely be the country’s second-worst wildfire season on record. A high-pressure system parked over the Midwest is trapping the smoke in place, causing air quality issues to linger for several days… In the West, several wildfires are causing separate air quality issues in the region.
A wildfire on Vancouver Island is threatening Douglas-fir trees in Cathedral Grove, located on the western shoreline of Cameron Lake. The old-growth forest is filled with gigantic 800-year-old trees… The out-of-control Wesley Ridge wildfire was discovered on July 31 and is now 511 hectares in size. The Regional District of Nanaimo issued an evacuation order on August 2, which affected nearly 400 properties in the area around Cameron Lake, about 25 kilometres west of Parksville. …The fire has grown rapidly over the weekend as it looms over Highway 4, which remains open for the time being. Crews are trying to push it back, even using night vision so they can battle the blaze 24 hours a day. Emelie Peacock with the BC Wildfire service says, “we currently have 142 personnel responding to this wildfire, which includes 65 firefighters, 2 followers, and roughly 75 structure protection specialists”. …The fire is suspected to be human-caused … investigation is still in its preliminary stages.
Rainfall continues to help crews fighting fires in Newfoundland and Labrador as the number of active wildfires drops from five to three, says the provincial fire duty officer. The active wildfires are the Winokapu fire in Labrador and the Chance Harbour fire in Newfoundland. The Ragged Harbour fire, which forced nearby Musgrave Harbour residents to evacuate over the weekend, also continues to burn. Wes Morgan said Wednesday morning that firefighters hit the ground on Tuesday to fight the Chance Harbour fire, located on the Bonavista Peninsula. “The precipitation that was forecasted did come true and we did see significant amounts of rain — that was a real advantage to us,” he told CBC. Morgan said they haven’t seen any additional fire growth, but it remains steady at 1,820 hectares. “Overall, it was a really great day and spirits are good and crews were back out in that way again this morning,” he said.
Much of Central Canada, Manitoba and Saskatchewan were placed under special air quality statements or warnings on Monday due to smoke from wildfires, as Environment Canada advised residents to limit time outdoors and watch for smoke exposure symptoms. The weather agency said air quality was poor across swaths of Ontario and Quebec as westerly winds brought in smoke from forest fires in the Prairies and northern Ontario. The weather agency also issued air quality warnings in central Saskatchewan and a special statement for much of Manitoba, noting that air quality and visibility due to wildfire smoke can fluctuate over short distances and vary from hour to hour.
Fire crews in Northwestern Ontario are monitoring 52 active wildfires across the region after five new blazes were confirmed by Sunday evening. Among the latest is Red Lake 99, burning near Grist Lake, which is the largest of the new fires at 394 hectares and not under control. Red Lake 101 has also drawn attention after crossing into Ontario from Manitoba. That fire is currently 227.5 hectares and continues to burn within Woodland Caribou Provincial Park. Other new fires include Red Lake 98 near Hornby Lake, Red Lake 100 west of Poplar Hill First Nation, and Red Lake 102 northwest of Nechigona Lake. Of those, only Red Lake 100 is under control. Fire officials continue to urge people to respect emergency orders and stay out of restricted zones to support safety and firefighting operations.
DRYDEN — Ten new forest fires in Northwestern Ontario over the weekend brought the total number of active fires in the region to 52. The Ministry of Natural Resources reports that one of the new outbreaks is an extension of a wildfire burning in Manitoba. That province’s EA061 fire has burned 278,000 hectares there, and 228 hectares in Ontario, as of Sunday evening. It’s located about 10 kilometres west of Bulging Lake in Woodland Caribou Provincial Park. Among other new fires of note in the Northwest, a 394-hectare blaze is burning four kilometres northwest of Grist Lake in the MNR’s Red Lake sector. The ministry reports the wildland fire hazard is low to moderate in most of the region, except for along the Ontario-Manitoba border from the Rainy River area to Opasquia Provincial Park, 250 kilometres north of Red Lake, where the hazard is mainly high. 
Arizona’s fire season keeps smoldering and flaring, thanks to a schizo monsoon and a dry winter. The 125,000-acre Dragon Bravo Fire continues to grow, with the 1,200 firefighters managing just 13% containment after nearly a month of trying. The National Weather Service had predicted a normal to wet monsoon after a bone-dry winter, based largely on sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific. But as a global warming trend driven by heat-trapping pollutants pumps energy into the atmosphere, patterns of drought, heat and storm tracks have become harder and harder to predict. So the monsoon has splashed and sputtered, with a week of storms giving way to a week of hot, dry weather – extending the fire season well into the period when fire crews would normally shift to other areas. Fortunately, the extended forecast calls for a chance the monsoon will gust back to life next week.
…The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. July 29 due to thunderstorms producing abundant lightning and wind gusts up to 50-60 mph, in combination with dry fuels, the alert said. A red flag warning means that critical fire weather conditions are either occurring now, or will occur shortly. NWS also issued a fire weather advisory from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. July 29 due to potential lightning from thunderstorms that could spark new fires and wind gusts that could impact new and existing fires. …The Piper Fire sparked on July 28 from thunderstorms 3 miles northeast of Skookum Creek Campground in the Three Sisters Wilderness. It was estimated to be 20 acres as of July 28. …The High Horn Fire in Malheur County had burned 120 acres as of July 28. …The Skyline Fire, also burning in Malheur County, had burned 38.5 acres as of July 28.
MOUNT HOOD, Oregon — The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon issued a Level 3 (go now) evacuation order for a new, five-acre wildfire on Mount Hood that was first reported late in the morning about three miles northwest of Timothy Lake. As of 4 p.m., the evacuation order does not affect the campgrounds and trails immediately around Timothy Lake, a popular recreational spot about 90 minutes from Portland. But helicopters are scooping large buckets of water from the lake to suppress the fire. Firefighters on the ground also have started an “aggressive initial attack,” the U.S. Forest Service said. The evacuation order affects a two-mile radius around the much smaller Dinger Lake and includes Anvil Lake and the Anvil Lake Trail 724. The order so far only affects remote campsites and hikers. …Dubbed the Anvil fire, it is burning near Forest Road 5820.
The Laguna Fire approximately 25 miles west of Abiquiú has grown to more than 15,000 acres, and prompted evacuation orders more than two weeks after Santa Fe National Forest officials announced their plans to let the fire safely grow instead of suppressing it immediately. On June 30, the Santa Fe National Forest announced that lightning caused the 176-acre fire and that they were going to “actively manage” the blaze, hoping to encourage low-intensity fire to spread across a roughly 13,000 mile area. Noting that the fire was burning in an area that had undergone a National Environmental Policy Act review, and had previously been subject to prescribed burns and thinning, Santa Fe National Forest Deputy Forest Supervisor Anthony Madrid said the fire presented “an opportunity to create a resilient ecosystem that reduces the future risk of catastrophic severe wildfire to communities.”
Turkey faced a “very risky week” for wildfires, an official said Monday, as blazes across parts of southeast Europe and the Balkans damaged homes and led to a huge firefighting operation that included evacuations. Nearly 100 people face prosecution over the fires in Turkey. Blazes erupted near Bursa, Turkey’s fourth-largest city, over the weekend. A wildfire to the northeast of Bursa had been largely extinguished, but one to the south of the city continued, although its intensity had been “significantly reduced,” Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli told reporters in Ankara. He also said that a fire that has been burning for six days in Karabuk, in northwest Turkey, had also “been reduced in intensity,” and a blaze in Karamanmaras in the south had largely been brought under control.
Greece continued to battle major wildfires across the country amid a severe heatwave, but firefighters have brought many outbreaks under control. Extreme heat persisted, with temperatures reaching 42.4C (108.32F) in central Greece on Sunday. Firefighters were working on five major fire fronts late on Sunday in the Peloponnese area west of Athens, as well as on the islands of Evia, Kythira and Crete. Meanwhile, neighbouring Turkey has recorded its highest ever temperature as fires raged in several regions. Turkey’s forestry minister, Ibrahim Yumakli, said on Sunday that areas affected by fires were “going through risky times” and that he thought it would be several days before they were fully contained. On Saturday, Turkey’s environment ministry said meteorologists had recorded a reading of 50.5C in the south-eastern city of Silopi, surpassing the previous heat record of 49.5C.
At least 10 forestry and rescue workers have been killed while battling wildfires in Turkey’s central Eskisehir province. Some 24 forest workers and volunteer rescue personnel were left “trapped inside the fire” following a change in the direction of the wind, Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said in a post on X. Five forestry workers and five volunteers from the AKUT rescue organisation lost their lives and 14 forest workers were taken to hospital, he said. The blaze in the Seyitgazi district of the province began on Tuesday morning and started spreading towards nearby areas, local media said. 
A firefighting helicopter crashed into the sea while attempting to collect water to combat a blaze in Athens. All three crew members were rescued and taken to a nearby hospital. Greece is combating a surge in wildfires amid soaring temperatures. A large wildfire broke out near the southern Greek city of Corinth on Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of several villages as firefighters battled flames under scorching conditions, authorities said. More than 180 firefighters, supported by 15 aircraft and 12 helicopters, were deployed to tackle the blaze in a pine forest in the mountainous area of the municipality, according to the local fire department. There were no immediate reports of injuries.