Inuvik (July 12/04) - Most communities in the Mackenzie Delta region were shrouded in haze last week, as smoke from wildfires in Alaska and the Yukon slowly made its way across Northern Canada.

Satellite images from America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show a band of smoke stretching across most of the NWT, Nunavut and parts of Ontario and Quebec. Smoke from the estimated 200 wildfires has also been reported as far north as Ellesmere Island and as far south as Edmonton.

In the Delta, Aklavik, Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic and Fort McPherson were all covered in a blanket of smoke, which limited visibility in some areas to less than a kilometre.

"You can just barely see across the river," said Aklavik resident Dean McLeod. "The smoke is really thick."

While it's not uncommon for smoke from forest fires to reach the Delta area, some residents long to see the sun.

"It's everywhere," said Brandon Andre of the haze hanging over Inuvik.

"I really don't like it. It's kind of crappy."

As of Saturday, there was one fire in the Delta burning outside Tuktoyaktuk, according to the Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development.

In the Sahtu, there were at least seven blazes which RWED categorized as "out of control," but none posed an immediate threat to the region's five settlements.