TORONTO – The wildfires emergency continues across Canada, with about 220 active fires: 90 are still out of control.
In Manitoba, many communities in the Northwest, including larger areas like Flin Flon, are still under evacuation orders and re-entry is still dangerous. In Saskatchewan, there are still around 20 active fires, including six out of control. The province has already had 259 fires so far this year, well above the five-year average of 148.
In Alberta, there are 53 active fires, including 21 out of control. Firefighters and aircraft from British Columbia, Yukon, Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Hawaii have arrived in Alberta to help fight the out-of-control fires, as have a contingent of firefighters and support personnel from Australia. Due to the fires, air quality in southern Alberta, including Calgary, was among the worst in Canada today (at Level 4, the moderate risk).
Meanwhile, the situation appears to have improved – at least there – in the district of Squamish, British Columbia, which is located just 64 kilometres (40 miles) north of the city of Vancouver and for which there had been so much concern in recent days. The B.C. Fire Service in fact declared over the weekend that the Squamish fire was “under control” and that the community was now facing a “reduced risk.”
The presence of a fire so close to the coast, however, has raised alarm among experts. Marc-André Parisien, a researcher with the Canadian Forest Service, said that fires close to the ocean, such as the one threatening Squamish, are concerning, as these areas have never seen large fires.
Two years after a historically devastating summer (that of 2023), Canada is once again facing a massive fire season, with the area burned that has already exceeded the annual averages of recent years. Currently, there are about 220 active fires across the country: 90 are out of control. Nearly four million hectares have already been consumed by flames. And it’s going to be a scorching summer.
In the pic above, an inter-force briefing of firefighters for Alberta: teams from all over Canada, the USA and Australia are operating in the province (photo from Twitter X – @AlbertaWildfire)
