The smoke rising from California hillsides and Canadian boreal forests does not stay where it starts. In 2026, it is drifting east, south, and into the homes, schools, and lungs of Americans who live thousands of miles from any active fire line — including pregnant people in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.
As of early June 2026, wildfires in the United States had burned 2.4 million acres — nearly double the 10-year average for the same point in the season, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. About 17% of the country is already in extreme drought. Conditions are expected to worsen. The EPA's AirNow fire and smoke platform is currently tracking active smoke impacts across multiple states, with alerts issued as far east as the Gulf Coast and the Mid-Atlantic.
