The western United States is on fire. Large swaths of Oregon, California and Washington have massive wildfires burning over millions of across. The immediate threat to people is the fire itself — we need people to evacuate when the order is given so they can stay out of harm's way.
However, the larger hazard might be the wildfire smoke and ash being generated from all this burning (see above). This is a trait that wildfires share with volcanic eruptions because it is the widespread volcanic ash that can cause the most harm. However, wildfire ash and volcanic ash are very different beasts.
