Western wildfires go global and go ‘pyro’

This photo dated July 14, 2014 of the Birch Creek fire, taken out window of aircraft, gives a sense of the scale of the fires in the Northwest Territories. (HANDOUT/NWTFire)

Western wildfires go global and go ‘pyro’

Bow River Shuttles writes: "Smoke from forest fires (or wildfires, as they're now called) burning in B.C. and the Northwest Territories began showing up in Alberta back in mid-July. Our view west to the Canadian Rockies has often been obscured, and downtown Calgary, driving in from the Bow River, has sometimes been barely visible. On occasion, smoke has settled in along the Bow River valley, south east of Calgary. It turns out that this smoke can now be seen in other parts of the world!"

Raging fires pollute the planet
Smoke clouds can be spotted from outer space
by Margaret Munro, Calgary Herald/Postmedia News/O.Canada.com Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Smoke from Canada's wildfires, which have burned vast tracks of forest in B.C. and the Northwest Territories, has been spotted as far away as Portugal.

The smoke's travel is fuelled in part by incredible clouds created by the fires that act like chimneys. They funnel smoke and ash as high as 10 to 15 kilometres into the atmosphere.

Read article here: http://bit.ly/1yflgjE