Western Canada covered in smoke as wildfires loosen grip on Quebec

Smoke shrouded Western Canada on Monday as wildfires flared again in the main oil-producing province of Alberta, while firefighters in Quebec doused some of the worst early season blazes, allowing thousands of evacuees to return home.
Canada is enduring its most destructive start to wildfire season, with about 4.8 million hectares (48,000 square kilometers) – an area larger than the Netherlands in western Europe – already burnt.
Forest fires regularly occur in the summer but the scope of the current conflagration – and its early arrival – are unprecedented. On Monday, some 449 fires were burning across Canada, including 219 out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
The fires in Alberta are sending plumes of smoke eastward over prairie provinces Saskatchewan and Manitoba.