Forecasters are warning that the potential for wildfires will be above normal in some areas across the United States over the coming months as temperatures rise and rain becomes sparse.

The fast-moving wildfires that raked Maui this week will take a heavy toll on the environment.

Researchers say smoke from wildfires accounted for up to half of all small particle air pollution in parts of the western U.S. in recent years (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)BILLINGS, Mont. – Wildfire smoke accounted for up to half of all health-damaging small particle air pollution in the western U.S. in recent years as warming temperatures fueled more destructive blazes, according to a study released Monday. Nationwide, wildfires were the source of up to 25% of small particle pollution in some years, the researchers said. But it’s difficult to separate how much of the increase in smoke pollution is driven by climate change versus the forest fuel buildup, she added. The new study matches up with previous research documenting the increasing proportion of pollution that comes from wildfire smoke, said Dan Jaffe, a wildfire pollution expert at the University of Washington.

An recently burned area at the Encontro das Aguas park at the Pantanal wetlands near Pocone, Mato Grosso state, Brazil, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020. Wildfire has infiltrated the park as the number of fires at the world's biggest tropical wetlands has more than doubled in the first half of 2020, according to data released by a state institute. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)BRASILIA – A vast swath of a vital wetlands is burning in Brazil, sweeping across several national parks and obscuring the sun behind dense smoke. From January through August, the number of fires more than tripled, topping 10,000. On Friday, Brazil's navy used a helicopter to rescue a burned jaguar cub and take it to a veterinary hospital.

Hundreds of homes on the outskirts of Tucson remain under an evacuation notice as firefighters work to keep the wildfire from moving downhill from canyons and ridges in the Coronado National Forest. “We do have some weather concerns," said incident meteorologist Gary Zell, who was stationed Friday at now-closed Catalina State Park. The National Wildfire Coordinating Group said in its daily operation plan that containment may not be achieved for weeks. Horses at the Catalina State Park Equestrian Center were transported out of the area for their safety. Sheriff's officials went door to door in neighborhoods on Thursday to notify residents of the evacuation notice, which a sheriff's spokesman said Friday wasn't mandatory.