The wildfires currently affecting the east coast of the U.S. are significantly worse than some people believed. Across Canada, wildfires are spreading dangerously fast. Smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning in Canada continues to create dangerous air quality conditions across New York City and the DMV.

The National Weather Service has issued an Air Quality Alert for regions of the east coast, including Montgomery County. Health officials are urging area residents to limit outdoor activities. On Wednesday the air quality remained at “unhealthy” to “very unhealthy” levels with some improvements by this weekend.

Many schools across the areas affected in the U.S. are shutting down after school outdoor activities.

“We have football workouts starting already and 7-on-7 practices that are being canceled due to these restrictions,” junior Michael Cooley said. [It’s [terrible] because we have a tournament coming up and really need the practice.”

These wildfires don’t usually spread this far across the world, but due to the 423 wildfires across Canada the spread of smoke has become uncontrollable.

The big question is: what has caused so many wildfires? One explanation is the warm and dry weather conditions that can ignite wildfires. The dry, hot weather creates more lightning. Half of Canada’s wildfires were started by lightning and the others were caused by human activity.

It is believed that the fires started in late April in British Columbia and Alberta and they have spread to different parts in Canada, including the eastern parts of Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario.

These wildfires have been categorized as the worst in Canadian history. The damage has been quite detrimental, causing not just destruction to the forests, land and property, but also severe and dangerous symptoms to people’s physical health. Inhaling smoke and matter from the fires can irritate airways, leading to coughing, chest pain and difficulty breathing.