Air quality has taken a serious hit across the United States as a two-fold blow of wildfires in the West and in Canada have sent smoke pouring across large sections of the country — a problem that’s set to linger for days.

Air quality alerts remain in effect from Minnesota to the Northeast due to smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada. In the West, wildfires in California continue to rage.

One person is dead and 13 have been injured as the largest wildfire France has seen in decades continues to burn across the nation's southern Aude region.

French firefighters were battling on Wednesday to control the country's biggest wildfire in almost 80 years, with the blaze in the southern Aude region having already swept through an area bigger than Paris.