More than 100 active wildfires burning across northern Ontario have sent thick smoke billowing south, turning the sky over Toronto a sickly yellow and causing air quality to plummet dramatically.
Environment Canada issued urgent health warnings on Wednesday after the nation's largest city recorded the worst air quality in the world, according to Swiss technology company IQAir.
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Heatwave and Evacuations
The smoke crisis coincides with a severe heatwave in the region, which shattered a three-decade record by reaching 37.3C in downtown Toronto, while international airport runways hit 55C.
The intense wildfires burning in northwestern Ontario have triggered mandatory evacuations for several First Nations communities in the path of the flames.
Striking video footage of a train operating near the community of Armstrong, Ontario, captured the extreme speed and intensity of the approaching forest fires.
"This could potentially overtake us here … This has gotten a little scary," says a crew member as a wall of flames whips across the windows.
"We're encased in flames now."
The railway operator, Canadian National, later confirmed that the entire train crew had been safely evacuated from the threatened area.
Other visual accounts showed displaced families fleeing their homes by boat as massive plumes of dark smoke filled the horizon.
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"My family hometown, Collins Ontario, is GONE," Nadya Kwandibens, a photographer, posted on social media.
Locals from the Namaygoosisagagun First Nation reported having only minutes of warning before they were forced to escape across Collins Lake in northwestern Ontario.
