Scores of wildfires scorching the U.S and Canada [Video]

LOS ANGELES –

Scores of wildfires across the United States and Canada have scorched swaths of land in California, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Alberta and beyond, forcing evacuations and road closures, as well as destroying and threatening structures. Air quality advisories and alerts have been issued in some affected areas.

As of Friday, there were 96 large active fires in the U.S. that have engulfed 2,274 square miles (5,890 square kilometers), most of them in Oregon, followed by California and Arizona, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

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More than 1,500 square miles (4,000 square kilometers) have burned overall so far this summer in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. In Canada, more than 3,700 fires have charred more than 8,000 square miles (22,800 square kilometers) so far this year, according to the government’s latest National Wildland Fire Situation Report, issued Wednesday.

Fuels and fire behavior advisories are in place for southwest Oregon, the region east …