Canada on track for its worst-ever wildfire season
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[June 06, 2023]
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada is on track for its worst-ever
year of wildfire destruction as warm and dry conditions are forecast to
persist through to the end of the summer after an unprecedented start to
the fire season, officials said on Monday.
Blazes are burning in nearly all Canadian provinces and territories, and
federal government officials said their modeling shows increased
wildfire risk in most of Canada through August.
"The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual. At
this time of the year, fires usually occur only on one side of the
country at a time, most often that being in the west," said Michael
Norton, an official with Canada's Natural Resources ministry.
Quebec, in eastern Canada, was currently the worst impacted due to
multiple fires ignited by lightning, Norton said. "The rate of increase
of area burned is also high ... if this rate continues, we could hit
record levels for area burned this year," he said.
Flames have been mushrooming rapidly in eastern Canada and have forced
evacuations in the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia as well as coastal
Quebec.
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On Monday, the Wallbridge Mining Company temporarily evacuated a gold
project camp in Quebec and suspended exploration activities on its
Detour-Fenelon Gold Trend Property due to an emergency order related
forest fires.
"Over the last 20 years, we have never seen such a large area burned so
early in the season," said Yan Boulanger, a researcher with Natural
Resources Canada. "Partially because of climate change, we're seeing
trends toward increasing burned area throughout Canada."
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![](../images/060623PIX/news_h19.jpg)
Smoke billows upwards from a planned
ignition by firefighters tackling the Donnie Creek Complex wildfire
south of Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada June 3, 2023. B.C.
Wildfire Service/Handout via REUTERS.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
By Sunday, about 3.3 million hectares had already burned - about 13
times the 10-year average - and more 120,000 people had been at
least temporarily forced from their homes.
Wildfires, the second most expensive disaster in Canada after
flooding, have destroyed homes, impacted oil and gas production in
the main crude-producing province of Alberta, and polluted the air
in both in Canada and the United States.
"This is a scary time for a lot of people," Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa.
"When people lose their homes, they don't just lose a roof and their
possession; they lose a special place where they saw their children
grow up, where they built a life," Trudeau said.
There are currently 413 active wildfires, including 249 deemed out
of control, and about 26,000 people are under evacuation orders
across Canada.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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