Canada is preparing to evacuate a remote town as smoke from wildfires spreads in America

The Canadian military is preparing to evacuate a remote town of 600 people as it is at risk from rampant wildfires, which have sent choking smoke across a wide area in the United States.
Federal Emergency Minister Eleanor Olszewski said the armed forces will use planes to evacuate residents of Fort Hope in northwestern Ontario, a sparsely populated area where some of the most severe fires are burning.
The region lacks roads and relies largely on air transportation. The authorities have already evacuated thousands of affected areas to cities located further south in Ontario.
Major forest fires have become a recurring annual event in Canada, which has some of the largest green spaces in the world. Climate experts say that rising temperatures have dried up trees and increased the risk of fires.
The Federal Ministry of Natural Resources announced that 69 new fires were reported overnight in Canada, bringing the total number to 955 fires.
The total area burned so far is approximately 28,500 square kilometers, well below the average over the past five years. But winds carried the smoke south of the border, prompting authorities to issue air quality advisories and health warnings in parts of the United States. As of 8 a.m. EST, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Air Now website rated air quality as “unhealthy” in an area that includes southern Ontario, eastern Ohio and West Virginia, most of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, much of Virginia, all of Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C.