>> I've been here over 40 years and I don't ever remember fires blanketing our entire state in smoke for extended periods of time until recently.

This stuff was not uncommon over the hundreds of years of this country's history. As other commenters have mentioned, it's lasted for decades in the American East, West, and particularly Midwest.

Climate change is an issue, but saying this stuff never happens and (presumably human-led) climate change is the sole reason is not really likely to be true.