Air Quality & Wildfire News — August 8, 2026

A hard day on the fire lines in Utah, more heat-driven fires in southeastern Europe, two new starts near Reno, and research on what a longer smoke season means for air quality progress in the US.

A firefighting helicopter crashed at a large Utah fire

A Sikorsky S-64 heavy-lift helicopter working the Widemouth 2 Fire in central Utah crashed Friday morning near Richfield, about 160 miles south of Salt Lake City, the Los Angeles Times reports. Two people were aboard, and their condition was not known as of Friday evening because crews had not been able to reach the site.

The crash happened in steep terrain and started another fire. Officials said fire activity on the south end of the blaze was too intense to safely send responders in, and they hoped to reach the scene within 24 hours, according to a report on the Sevier County response. The fire, in Fishlake National Forest near Kanosh, was started by lightning on July 27 and had grown to 165 square miles at 19% containment Friday morning, with more than 600 personnel assigned. Firefighting was paused after the accident and later resumed. The NTSB and FAA will investigate.

Crews had been warned that morning of erratic winds, dry fuels, hot temperatures and the potential for dry thunderstorms, with red flag warnings in effect.

Serbia brings in the army as Balkan fires spread

Authorities in Serbia raced to contain a major wildfire in pine forests near Deliblatska Pescara, a protected nature reserve about 40 miles from Belgrade, while other blazes burned near the central town of Kraljevo, Arkansas Online reports. Villagers from Sumarak were asked to leave their homes as a precaution; officials said no houses had burned and no casualties were reported.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said the army had been brought in and state companies were asked to lend equipment and staff. Nine wildfires were burning around the country, though Dacic said the situation was "not critical." Firefighters were also working blazes in neighboring Montenegro. Temperatures reaching 104°F, prolonged drought and strong winds have driven the risk across the Balkans.

Two new fires near Reno

Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue and the US Forest Service responded to two fires Friday evening in northwest Reno, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. The Moose Fire had burned about 20 acres north of Somersett and was moving away from homes. A second fire was burning above Hunter Creek Trail, where air resources were called in and the Forest Service took command.

The Moose Fire started around 6:20 p.m. Lightning had been reported in the area, but no cause had been determined.

Smoke is offsetting decades of air quality gains, study finds

A study published in Frontiers in Environmental Health tracked wildfire PM2.5 exposure across the United States from 2003 to 2019 and found that smoke is cancelling out part of the progress made by cutting transport and industrial emissions, as reported here.

Prenatal exposure to wildfire smoke more than doubled over those 17 years, especially in western states where fire seasons have grown longer. About 65% of days when air quality exceeded safe levels for pregnancy were attributable to wildfire smoke. The researchers wrote that the burden falls disproportionately on low-income, rural and Indigenous communities. PM2.5 — the fine particles small enough to reach deep into the lungs — has long been linked to preterm birth and low birth weight, and the researchers note wildfire smoke may be more toxic than traffic or industrial pollution because of its chemical makeup.

Oregon's fire cameras are catching fires before people do

The University of Oregon's Hazards Lab runs a network of 80 cameras in rural parts of the state, and this season they have spotted dozens of high-priority fires before anyone saw them, the Register-Guard reports. When the Hells Hill Fire started four miles south of Marcola on July 22, a panoramic camera on Buck Mountain picked up smoke within minutes, and crews held the fire to nine acres.

The data and video streams are free to the public through partners including Watch Duty and AlertWest. "We want everyone to have access to this work," said lab director Leland O'Driscoll. "This is a bigger public service." Two mobile camera units were also deployed to watch the Olive Butte and Salmon fires on the Grant and Baker county line.

Sources

• Helicopter battling Utah wildfire crashes, no word on the two aboard — Los Angeles Times
• Status of 2 on board firefighting helicopter unknown after crash near Widemouth 2 Fire — EUROPE SAYS
• Serbia battles blazes as heat wave persists — Arkansas Online
• Fire crews responding to two blazes in west Reno — Reno Gazette-Journal
• Wildfire smoke poses growing risk to pregnant women as climate change worsens, US study finds — EUROPE SAYS
• UO cameras have detected dozens of fires across Oregon this season — Eugene Register-Guard

Canairy aggregates publicly reported air-quality and wildfire news and summarizes it in plain English, with links to the original sources. This is educational information, not medical or emergency advice. In a wildfire or air-quality emergency, follow guidance from local authorities.