Smoke from wildfires has blanketed western Canada as new outbreaks broke out in the oil-producing province of Alberta. Meanwhile, firefighters in Quebec extinguished some of the worst fire fronts in the eastern part of the country, allowing thousands of evacuees to return to their homes.

Wildfires that have been raging for weeks in Canada have burned an estimated 48 million hectares, an area larger than the Netherlands.

As of Monday, there were 449 active outbreaks across the country, with 219 raging out of control.

“If you look at western Canada, it’s completely covered in smoke and that’s going to continue on Tuesday,” meteorologist Gerald Cheng explained, referring to a map. According to the air quality index, Edmonton and Fort McMurray are in the “high risk” category for public health.

Due to the wind, the smoke from the forest fires in Alberta spread to the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

In Quebec (east), active outbreaks were down to 110 today from nearly 150 last week, when smoke had reached the US east coast. Cheng predicted light rains in the province, but pointed to the risk of new wildfires caused by lightning.

Nearly 5,000 firefighters are working today in Alberta, Nova Scotia and Quebec, while Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand announced at a press conference the deployment of additional military forces to deal with the fires.