Since the beginning of the fire season in Canada, the area of burned forests has exceeded the average by 10 times. The fire has already covered more than 2.7 million hectares, the equivalent of more than 5 million soccer fields. About 28 thousand residents have been evacuated from the affected regions. The unusually early start of the wildfire season has caused officials to worry about the risk of exhausting firefighting resources before the summer begins.
According to the Canadian Department of Natural Resources, fires are raging in 2023 from the west coast to the east coast of the country, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. As a result, more than 2.7 million hectares of forest have already burned – 10 times more than what has burned each year at this time of year for the past decade.
Alberta, Canada’s largest oil-producing province, had to partially suspend operations in its fields because of the fire threat. In Nova Scotia, flames destroyed about 200 homes. According to the Canadian authorities, in 2023 the country has already had more than 1 thousand natural fires, of which about 200 continue to burn, and 82 are recognized as uncontrollable.
Hundreds of firefighters from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand have already arrived in Canada to help their local counterparts. But such large-scale wildfires cannot be stopped by firefighters alone, experts say. To fight them, comprehensive measures are needed, including reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and more active forestry.
“It is an obvious fact that Canada is experiencing the impacts of climate change, including more frequent and more severe wildfires. Canadians are seeing and feeling the effects of these fires,” Bloomberg quoted Canadian Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson as saying.
По материалам: http://www.planet-today.com/2023/06/forest-fires-in-canada-unusually-early.html