OVER 430 WILDFIRES ACTIVE IN CANADA, 208 OUT OF CONTROL

Tue 13 June 2023:

Currently, there are 431 wildfires burning across Canada, 208 of which are out of control, Minister for Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said on Monday.

“Across the country, there are currently 431 wildfires burning, 208 of which are determined to be out of control,” Blair said at a press conference.

Blair added that although significant improvement has been observed in some parts of the country, Western Canada, Quebec, and areas of Northern Ontario are still facing air quality notices due to wildfire smoke.

The number of those evacuated across the country has sharply increased from 20,183 on June 7 to nearly 32,000 at present, the minister said. With 4.7 million hectares of forest burnt, the 2023 wildfire season has become the worst of the 21st century, Blair noted.

As wildfires continue to burn across Canada, almost 5,000 firefighters have been deployed, including incident management personnel, overhead specialists, and members of the Canadian armed forces, Blair continued.

The minister also noted the presence of 1,098 international firefighters and the expected arrival of personnel from Portugal and Spain later this week to help with the situation in Quebec.

Millions of people in North America are under air quality advisories as wildfires burning across Canada have prompted evacuations, disrupted air travel and caused apocalyptic, smoke-filled skies even thousands of kilometres from the blazes.

The National Weather Service in the United States extended air quality alerts on last week Thursday for the East Coast from New England to South Carolina, as well as parts of the Midwest including Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.

According to forest-management specialist Anthony Taylor, the number one cause of these forest fires is the weather. It has been unusually warm and arid for the spring season in Canada, and the country had only half its usual rainfall. In fact, the capital of Nova Scotia received less than 120 mm of rainfall, which is one-third of its average spring precipitation levels, said a meterorologist from the Weather Network.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent