Air slowly clears in U.S.; Canada fires still raging

SEVERE WEATHER

The sun sets over a refinery in Hamilton, Canada, as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky earlier this week. Smoke that reached the U.S. gradually cleared away on Friday. CHRIS YOUNG — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A firefighter directs water on a grass fire on land behind a residential property in Kamloops, Canada, earlier this week. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Dan Bilefsky

The New York Times

MONTREAL >> Hundreds of wildfires continued to burn across Canada on Friday, as residents braced for what could be the worst wildfire season in recent memory — and one that is far from over. But the storm system that sent clouds of noxious smoke into the United States was moving on, and air quality in the United States was improving for most.

Steven Flisfeder, a warning preparedness meteorologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, predicted that the weekend could bring better air quality in Toronto, the country’s largest city and its financial capital, thanks to some rain and cloud cover near wildfire areas, with scattered rains expected in parts of southern Ontario on Sunday.

“That’s going to help flush out the contaminants from the air a little bit,” he said.

In Quebec, where nearly 150 wildfires this week diminished air quality in Ontario and the Northeast United States, Premier Francois Legault said Thursday that the number of evacuees had hit 13,500 but that he expected that number not to rise over Friday and Saturday.

The scale of the fires has stretched firefighting capacity across the country, and firefighters from the United States, South Africa, France, Australia and New Zealand, along with members of the Canadian Armed Forces, have been supporting local fire crews.

Drought in parts of Canada’s western provinces contributed to the early, explosive start to the wildfire season in the country, experts say.