[1/4] A boat passes under the Lions Gate bridge to enter Vancouver Harbour, shrouded in a haze of wildfire smoke, as seen from Cypress Mountain in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, August 21, 2023.
REUTERS/Chris Helgren Acquire Licensing RightsREVELSTOKE, British Columbia, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Millions of people in the western Canadian province of British Columbia were under air quality warnings on Monday as hundreds of wildfires filled the skies with smoke and turned the sun orange.
In the cities of Kelowna and Kamloops, the air quality index (AQI) was above 350, a "hazardous" level, real-time air quality information platform IQAir showed.
Wildfire smoke is a seasonal occurrence for much of heavily-forested British Columbia, but the number of wildfires and amount of land burned is trending higher as a result of climate change, increasing concerns about the impact on human health.
"This type of extreme smoke event covering all of our province does not happen every year," said Jalena Bennett, smoke information specialist with BlueSky Canada, adding 2018 was the last time wildfire smoke was so widespread.
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