Lack of lightning allows firefighters to catch up

VANCOUVER — The B.C. Wildfire Service says about 560 fires were burning in the province, but there weren’t many lightning strikes over the weekend and that gave crews a chance to concentrate on some of the 54 blazes that were threatening people or property.

The largest fire continued to be the 850-square-kilometre blaze moving north from Fraser Lake toward Fort St. James. Officials said an increase in wildfire activity in southeastern B.C. was also a concern.

In the United States, smoke from wildfires also clogged the sky across the west, blotting out mountains and city skylines from Oregon to Colorado, delaying flights and forcing authorities to tell even healthy adults in the Seattle area to stay indoors.

Seattle’s Space Needle was swathed in haze on Monday, and it was impossible to see nearby mountains. Residents in Portland, Oregon, who were up early saw a blood-red sun shrouded in smoke and huffed their way through another day of polluted air. Portland Public Schools suspended all outdoor sports practices.

Thick smoke in Denver blocked the view of some of Colorado’s famous mountains and prompted an air quality health advisory for the northeastern quarter of the state. The smoky pollution, even in Colorado, came from wildfires in British Columbia and the Cascade Mountains in the Northwest.

The Federal Aviation Administration said planes bound for the Sea-Tac International Airport, Seattle’s main airport, might be delayed because of low visibility.

CHAD HIPOLITO, THE CANADIAN PRESS A cargo ship sits idle as fishermen cast out traps from their crab boat off the coast of Victoria on Monday. About 550 fires are still burning in B.C., the B.C. Wildfire Service says.