Poor air quality warnings continue for most of Canada on Thursday (8/6/2023). Smoke from hundreds of forest and land fires (forest fire points) blankets the country.
A total of 414 forest fire points have occurred, including 239 out of control on Wednesday (7/6/2023). The number of points has increased from 211 reported forest fires at the end of May.
Thousands of firefighters from around the world, including personnel from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Africa, are struggling to extinguish the fires. Meanwhile, millions of Canadians have been advised to stay indoors.
The forecast for the densely populated area of Toronto and its surroundings predicts that the smoke will increase until the end of the week.
The forest fire season began in early May as the protective snow melted and lightning strikes and careless campfires ignited the dry forests. Fires in northern Quebec forced over 11,400 people to leave their homes on Wednesday.
More evacuation orders are expected to be issued soon. Around 155 fires have been reported in that area alone.
Quebec Prime Minister Francois Legault said that the fires in the northern and western regions of the province make it impossible for evacuated residents to return home until next week.
In British Columbia on the west coast, the second-largest forest fire in the province’s history covers 310,805 hectares on Thursday morning. Around 80 forest fire points have been reported.
Read More : 5 Facts About the Canadian Forest Fires that Turned New York’s Sky into Horror
Moving eastward across the country, forest fires are still occurring in Alberta, with around 70 points. In Ontario, the Canadian Environmental Agency assessed the air quality in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, as the worst in the country on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia on the east coast, about 16,500 people were evacuated during the peak of the fires threatening the capital, Halifax, and over 150 homes were engulfed in flames. Between March 1 and June 5, an estimated 2,214 fires have consumed 38,000 square kilometers, making this year the worst in Canadian history.
