Air quality statements issued throughout Canada, US

From British Columbia to Quebec, Environment Canada has issued special air quality statements and smog alerts.

In the United States, more than 80 million Americans from the midwest to the east coast are also under air quality alerts due to wildfire smoke.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says there are 481 active wildfires across the country as of Wednesday, with nearly 250 burning out of control.

READ MORE: Hamilton, Halton, Niagara under special air quality statement due to wildfire smoke

Environment Canada says the poor air quality is expected to remain into Wednesday night.

The smoke has travelled across the border to parts of the U.S. where the smoke is impacting day-to-day life. Chicago’s air quality is the worst in the world on Wednesday and Toronto comes in at number three.

Some cities like Detroit were in the hazardous range and people were warned to stay indoors and reduce activity levels.

An atmospheric monitoring service in the European Union says the fires have released record-high levels of carbon emissions.