The Santa Ana winds fanned the blaze and blew clouds of dark smoke over homes and strawberry fields to the south.

BBC: California wildfire shuts famous highway

Furnaces could no longer emit "dark smoke" and households were offered grants towards the cost of converting their coal-burning grates to smokeless fuel.

BBC: News, London

If no majority is reached, the ballots are placed in a stove installed in the Sistine Chapel and burned to produce a plume of dark smoke.

WSJ: Black Smoke Signals No New Pope

As dark smoke filled the kitchen, we tossed the whole experiment into the sink, on top of the smoldering towels, and climbed on the counters to open the window.

NPR: The Curious Incident of the Funnel Cake in the Lawn

Onjefu said that when he headed outside, he immediately noticed a large, dark plume of smoke rising in the sky on the north side of town.

CNN: Texan town tries to rebuild with community, spirituality

The closer they got to Poway, the thick cloud of smoke turned the sky as dark as pitch black night.

CNN: Your stories of heroism amid flames

Phosphorus bombs often are used for smoke screens and become luminous in the dark, GlobalSecurity.org says.

CNN: SHARE THIS

As the sun went down, light shot through the smoke and turned the air around us a dark gold that cast an unsettling radiance on the trees and houses.

NEWYORKER: The Reptile Garden

The rest walk from downtown to the neighborhoods, scattering in all directions across bridges, through underpasses, beneath trestles, up hills to dark residential streets, solitary figures beneath thought bubbles of warm breath and cigarette smoke.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Citizen Vince'

After dark, locals out for a night on the town mix with visitors drawn by the smoke wafting from the dozen-plus satay grills lining the complex's western edge.

BBC: The perfect trip: Singapore and Malaysia