Residents in Harvard, Ayer, Bolton, Devens, and Shirley, along with those in other communities in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire, flooded their local fire departments with calls Monday, reporting the strong smell of smoke in the area.

Harvard Fire Chief Bob Mignard told the Press that after his department had received about 30 calls, he called other fire departments in surrounding towns to see if there was a fire in the area somewhere. His contact at the Devens Fire Department told him the smell was from wildfires in Quebec, reported by Boston media outlets to number more than 50, with eight still burning out of control as of Tuesday.

Confirming that the Canadian fires were the source of the smoke, an e-mail Mignard received from Skywarn, a national organization of storm watchers and storm chasers, reported Monday, “Smoke from a number of large fires in southern Quebec has begun to move over portions of southwest New Hampshire...as well as eastern Massachusetts. The thickest smoke was found over the outer Cape at 8:30 a.m. Visibilities were reported to be less than 2 miles at the Chatham airport.”

The e-mail explained that winds from the north to northeast were carrying the hazy fumes across eastern Massachusetts, with the densest smoke expected over eastern Plymouth County, Cape Cod, and the islands. A plume of lighter smoke was expected to filter from southern New Hampshire into counties in central and northern Massachusetts before a shift in the surface winds to a west-southwest direction moved the smoke out to sea.

By Tuesday, overnight rains and a cold front had cleared the air of most of the smoky haze from the fires.

According to a report on the website Genealogy.com, more than 1,400 people have been forced from their homes in central Quebec, with no certainty as to when they can return, because of damage to electric lines and drinking water supplies.