"Canada's record-breaking 2023 wildfires exposed more than 350 million people in North America and Europe to air pollution that likely contributed to tens of thousands of deaths, according to new estimates published Wednesday.
The findings "underscored that severe wildfires do not have only local consequences" but can inflict real harm a continent away, said the scientists behind the world-first research.
Extreme fire conditions, supercharged by climate change, fanned thousands of blazes across Canada between May and September 2023 that torched around 18 million hectares (44 million acres)—an area larger than England.
The five-month wildfires were unprecedented in size and scale, releasing massive plumes of acrid smoke that turned skies yellow and triggered health warnings across North America."
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