The wildfires in Canada have caused another thick layer of smoke to descend upon parts of the United States, prompting air quality alerts across 16 states and Washington, D.C.

According to a Wednesday situation report from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, at least 30 new wildfires broke out in Canada’s forests Tuesday to bring the number of active wildfires across the country to nearly 500, with about 250 being labeled as out of control. The dense smoke began to cover parts of the northern Plains, the Great Lakes region, Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic on Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS), parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Washington, D.C., were all under air quality alerts because of the fires as of early evening Wednesday.

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