Even the smoke is making air unhealthy for cities hundreds of miles away A confluence of factors has sparked one of the U.S.?s most active wildfire seasons in recent memory, upheaving thousands of residents, and generating so much smoke it?s blanketing the Midwest. Not only that, the fires are uncomfortably close to several big cities, making it even more difficult for emergency crews to address them. Why is the country suddenly aflame"
Currently over 80 large fires are burning tens of thousands of acres across nine states in the Western U.S. and into Canada. Fires in Oregon, Idaho, and Montana have been threatening structures and triggering evacuations since July, including popular recreation areas like the Columbia River Gorge and Glacier National Park. British Columbia has declared its worst fire season on record. Over 100 fires are burning just in Washington, and last weekend, California saw one of the biggest fires in Los Angeles city history.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner
NASA's Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of smoke traveling across the country on September 4, 2017. The actively burning areas are outlined in red.

The National Interagency Fire Center reported yesterday that about 7.8 million acres have burned in the U.S. this year. ?While it is unlikely that this season will be record-breaking for modern fire record keeping in the western United Sta...