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Parts of Canada under provincial fire ban due to extreme wildfires

A burnt landscape caused by wildfires is pictured near Entrance, Wild Hay area, Alberta, Canada on May 10, 2023. Canada struggled on May 8, 2023, to control wildfires that have forced thousands to flee, halted oil production and razed towns, with the western province of Alberta calling for federal help.
MEGAN ALBU
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AFP via Getty Images
A burnt landscape caused by wildfires is pictured near Entrance, Wild Hay area, Alberta, Canada on May 10, 2023. Canada struggled on May 8, 2023, to control wildfires that have forced thousands to flee, halted oil production and razed towns, with the western province of Alberta calling for federal help.

In Ontario, the extreme risk of danger extends from Sault Ste. Marie in the north to hundreds of miles south to Belleville on the north shore of Lake Ontario. A fire ban means no burning, no campfires, or other burning of grass and other debris.

The hot, dry weather in Ontario is underway and already there are forest fires burning in northern parts of the province putting many communities at risk.

Ontario has, so far escaped the widespread devastation of fires in other parts of the country.

Bill Blair is Canada’s emergency preparedness minister, who recently provided an update.       

"Across the country, there are 214 wildfires burning, and 93 of those fires are deemed out of control in Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia," Blair said. "They are all experiencing interface wildfires. 29,000 people remain evacuated across the country.”

Blair said that’s led to a huge response from federal agencies and ministries including the military, natural resources, and health as well as those providing financial aid to people who have been displaced or lost their homes.

He said there’s been international support with resources and firefighters coming from several countries.

“From Australia, we’re expecting 158 personnel to arrive in Alberta next week. This is in addition to 195 members from Australia already in that province assisting in the firefighting efforts. From the United States, we’re expecting 100 personnel to arrive next week. There are already 304 American personnel currently in the province," Blair said.

Blair also said there are firefighters from New York and New Hampshire already in Nova Scotia where efforts have been focussed in recent days. Firefighters are also on the way from South Africa, New Zealand, Mexico, and as of yesterday, France with most headed toward Alberta.

In recent days much of the focus has been on Nova Scotia, where wildfires have threatened the suburbs of the city of Halifax. Tim Houston is the premier of Nova Scotia.

“20,000 people currently evacuated from their homes.  We’ve lost 200 homes, a devastating number for sure," Houston said.

Houston has imposed a $25,000 dollar fine on anyone caught breaking a province-wide fire ban.

The fires near Halifax came so quickly, people barely had time to gather a few essentials before fleeing.

The situation in Nova Scotia has eased with rain and cooler temperatures over the weekend aiding firefighting efforts. But another fire in the southwest corner of the province is still out of control. it’s the largest recorded fire in Nova Scotia’s history.

Blair said so far this year, and it’s early in the fire season, more than 7.5 million acres of land have burned across Canada.

John Valiant is the author of the book "Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World." He’s been watching the fires in northern Alberta.

"It’s comparable to a Category Five hurricane. So these flames are probably well over a hundred, or close to a hundred meters tall at their very peak," Valiant said. "These are entire trees combusting all at once and what happens with a big boreal fire is a hundred — a thousand of these trees may go up simultaneously creating this wall of fire that can be a hundred meters tall and releasing energy that is kind of borderline nuclear.”

Valiant said the effects of these fires have dramatically changed since about the year 2000 because there’s been a change in the boreal forests.

“What we’ve had is heating, and drying and those go together hand in hand. You’ve got 50% more C02 in the atmosphere than there was in pre-industrial times," Valiant said. :So, this is industrial C02 generated by fossil fuel burning.”

Other climate experts like Kristina Dahl, agree that climate change is a big part of the problem. She’s the principal climate scientist for the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“Across the world and by almost any metric that we look at, wildfires are growing worse. They are burning larger areas, they’re burning more severely," Dahl said.

Dave Phillips is a senior climatologist with Environment Canada. He said there are three factors that are what he calls "truly connected to climate change," rising sea levels, heat waves, and forest fires.

“We have just started the season, and if this is the opening act, then, boy, we’re going to be into a very hot and flamy kind of summer ahead," Phillips said.

Already, firefighters from Ontario and Quebec, who were on loan to Alberta, have been recalled to deal with fires in their home provinces.

For much of Canada, hot, dry weather is forecast throughout June, suggesting the full extent of the fire season has yet to be seen.