{"id":9485,"date":"2026-07-18T10:42:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9485"},"modified":"2026-07-18T10:42:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T05:42:53","slug":"six-flags-great-america-closes-as-canadian-wildfire-smoke-spreads-across-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9485","title":{"rendered":"Six Flags Great America closes as Canadian wildfire smoke spreads across US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2F134752359.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Six Flags Great America was forced to shut down as smoke from Canada\u2019s devastating <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/16\/us-news\/timelapse-captures-wildfire-smog-slowly-engulf-nyc-skyline\/\">wildfires continued to blanket parts of the US<\/a>, creating unhealthy air conditions across the Chicago area.<\/p>\n<p>Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor Chicago in Gurnee, Illinois, closed Friday over the unhealthy air quality conditions in Chicago due to the disaster, the company announced on its website. <\/p>\n<p>Officials expect the park to reopen Saturday, pending improving conditions, <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/six-flags-great-america-temporarily-closes-amid-smoke-from-canadian-wildfires-12021935\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to People,<\/a> citing a park spokesperson.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Smoke from Canadian wildfires hangs over Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois, on July 16, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">Anadolu via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cDue to current air quality conditions and guidance from weather and safety experts, we have made the decision to close the park today,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe appreciate our guests\u2019 understanding and patience, and will continue to monitor conditions as we plan to reopen tomorrow as scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>An air quality alert remains in effect across the Chicago area through Saturday night as smoke from wildfires burning in northern Ontario continues drifting south, <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/post\/chicago-air-quality-alert-effect-index-hazardous-levels-canadian-wildfire-smoke\/19525207\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to ABC 7 Chicago<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Conditions in Chicago reached the \u201chazardous\u201d category in the Air Quality Index Friday morning before improving to \u201cunhealthy\u201d later in the day \u2014 which warns \u201csome members of the general public may experience health effects.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the Windy City had the worst air quality of any major city in the world.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, Illinois closed Friday, July 17, due to air quality concerns from the wildfires. <span class=\"credit\">google maps<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Canada had 859 active wildfires as of Thursday, including 113 classified as out of control, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/environment\/ontario-asks-federal-support-wildfire-evacuations-smoke-spreads-2026-07-16\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">according to the Canadian government<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The smoke has affected large parts of the US, including the Great Lakes, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, exposing more than 100 million people to unhealthy air.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/17\/us-news\/nyc-has-unhealthy-air-quality-from-canada-wildfire-but-hope-in-sight-for-metlifes-world-cup-final\/\">New York City continued to be impacted<\/a> by the smoke Friday.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The amusement park said it would continue monitoring conditions before reopening. <span class=\"credit\">google maps<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The city woke up under \u201cunhealthy\u201d skies, prompting health alerts as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.iqair.com\/world-air-quality-ranking\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IQAir<\/a> ranked New York fourth among major cities worldwide for the worst air quality.<\/p>\n<p>Health officials advised residents, especially those with respiratory conditions, to stay indoors when possible and avoid strenuous outdoor activity.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/17\/us-news\/trump-says-canada-must-pay-new-tariffs-due-to-totally-unacceptable-wildfire-smoke\/\">President Trump threatened new tariffs on Canada<\/a> over the wildfire smoke Friday, saying the country was failing to manage its forests.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Chicago recorded the worst air quality of any major city in the world on July 16, 2026. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will call the Prime Minister during the day to find out what they are going to do about it. The cost is incalculable!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Six Flags Great America was forced to shut down as smoke from Canada\u2019s devastating wildfires continued to blanket parts of the US, creating unhealthy air conditions across the Chicago area. Six Flags Great America and Hurricane Harbor Chicago in Gurnee, Illinois, closed Friday over the unhealthy air quality conditions in Chicago due to the disaster,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/134752359.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}