The West Coast burned, but no one was fiddling.
Wildfires raged over the weekend and into the week, claiming lives and choking people with thick, acrid smoke. Government officials urged people to stay inside. Most masks people would wear to protect them from the worldwide, airborne coronavirus were likely not enough to save their lungs from the product of the flames.
Experts believed that the smoke would alleviate after the weekend, blown away by stiff breezes. But by early the next week, it was clear the toxic fog would stay in the region. ...