For the past few days, it’s seemed like the entirety of New Jersey has been having a massive bonfire, with the lingering smell of smoke and the hazy sky.

But the root of this poor air quality is far from something as fun as a bonfire, and it’s coming from our neighbors up north. Since earlier this week, the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Nova Scotia have been undergoing detrimental wildfires. This series of fires has been acknowledged as some of the worst recorded in Canadian history.

According to NBC News, there were about 414 fires blazing across the provinces on Tuesday evening, and 239 of those were considered “out of control”. Around 14,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes to keep themselves safe – or as safe as possible.

While those who evacuated are lucky enough to be out of harm’s way, people ranging from Virginia to Detroit are feeling the effects of these fires. From Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning, the smoke from these fires wafted over most of the northeastern US, and even into the midwest. This created a significant haze in the sky, giving the environment around us a slightly orange tone. A smoky odor accompanies this haze, smelling like your clothes after you walk out of a barbecue restaurant.

According to IQAir, an air monitor based in Switzerland, around 9 am on Wednesday, New York City was ranked third in worst air quality anywhere in the world with an air quality index (AQI) of 160, following Detroit, Michigan at 162, and Delhi, India at 191 – the higher the number, the lower the air quality.

Just as if things couldn’t get any crazier, at around 12 pm on Wednesday afternoon it got so bad that there was a thick orange fog. Not just some light haze, it was a fog. Many people described the scene as looking like the end of the world. The streets in New York City, typically buzzing with commotion at this time of day, were nearly empty. And the majority of those that remained outside wore face coverings to minimize smoke inhalation. Very reminiscent of the scenes from the Covid lockdown back in 2020, plus orange fog. The smell of smoke would only worsen throughout the day, and the AQI would only rise – it reached the low 300s at some point later Wednesday afternoon.

While we were strongly affected by these fires some several hundred miles it’s hard to imagine how much worse it has affected those who live up there.