Canada evacuates Fort Hope, Ontario, as wildfires spread smoke into the US

The Canadian military prepared on Saturday to evacuate about 600 residents of Fort Hope, a remote community in north‑western Ontario, threatened by intense forest fires. Federal Emergency Minister Eleanor Olszewski said armed forces would use aircraft because the area has few roads. Thousands have already been moved to towns farther south in Ontario.

A surge of 69 new fires overnight raised the total number of active blazes to 955, with almost 28,500 km² (about 11,000 sq mi) burned – below the five‑year average. Winds carried dense smoke into the United States, prompting the EPA’s AirNow service to issue air‑quality alerts for southern Ontario and large parts of Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Conditions were rated “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy,” especially around Pittsburgh.

U.S. President Donald Trump blamed what he called “incompetent Canadian forest management” and warned he would add the “incalculable cost” of dealing with the pollution to tariffs on Canadian goods. Olszewski noted Canada has invested C$12 billion (US$8.56 billion) since 2020 in forest sustainability. Meteorologists said the smoke would have only a minimal impact on the World Cup final at the New York‑New Jersey stadium and expected air quality to improve later in the day.