Smoke from Canada’s wildfires spread across the East Coast and the Midwest on Wednesday, blanketing the capitals of both countries in an unhealthy haze, forcing the cancellation of flights at major airports, suspending major league games and leading the population to resume the use of masks.

As Canadian authorities have requested more international assistance to fight the more than 400 fires burning across the country, which have already displaced 20,000 people, poor air quality, which the United States describes as dangerous levels of pollution, spread through central New York State to northeast Pennsylvania. , and later in the New York metropolitan area. The unhealthy air reached North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people.

“I can taste the air,” Dr. Ken Strumpf said in a Facebook post from Syracuse, New York, where the city was covered in a cloak of amber. He even felt a little dizzy from the smoke, he later said in a telephone interview.

In Baltimore, Debbie Funk donned a blue surgical mask for her daily walk with her husband Jack Hughes through Fort McHenry, a national park overlooking the Patapsco River. The thick air hovered over the water, darkening the horizon as in the distance ships moved slowly through the mist.

“I was out for a walk this morning and felt like I had a puff of smoke,” Funk said. He added that the couple planned to stay at home later on Wednesday, as recommended by authorities.

Canadian authorities say the situation is turning into the worst fire season in the country’s history. It started earlier than expected due to drier than usual ground conditions and accelerated extremely quickly, straining firefighting resources across the country, fire officials said and of the environment.

Smoke from the fires in various parts of the country has been blowing towards the United States since late last month, but has been intensified by the recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 fires were considered out of control on Wednesday. , as, ironically, Canada celebrates Clean Air Day. .

Smoke was so thick in downtown Ottawa that office towers across the Ottawa River were barely visible. In Toronto, Yili Ma said she had canceled her hiking plans this week and would stop going to the outdoor restaurants that are a summer tradition in a country known for its harsh winters.

“I put the mask aside more than a year ago, and since yesterday I’ve been bringing it back,” lamented the 31-year-old woman.

Major League Baseball has suspended games in New York and Philadelphia, and even a WNBA game in Brooklyn has been suspended. On Broadway, ‘Killing Eve’ star Jodie Comer struggled to breathe and left the matinee after 10 minutes. The show resumed with a one-liner, the show’s publicists said.

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Gillies reported from Toronto. Associated Press writers Randall Chase, in Dover, Delaware; Michael Hill, in Albany, New York; David Koenig, in Dallas; Aamer Madhani, in Washington; Brooke Schultz, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; Mark Scolforo, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Lea Skene, in Baltimore; Carolyn Thompson, in Buffalo, New York; Ron Todt, in Philadelphia; Corey Williams, in West Bloomfield, Mich.; and Mark Kennedy, Jake Offenhartz, Karen Matthews and Julie Walker in New York contributed to this report.