Canadian wildfires worsen, smoke spreads to US and Norway

Wildfires continue to rage and intensify in Canada, forcing many people to evacuate, as the country battles uncontrollable fires believed to be caused by climate change. According to AFP on June 11, the total area burned since the beginning of the year has reached nearly 46,102 ^km2 , far exceeding the average of previous years.

Fire west of the Kiskatinaw River in British Columbia, Canada

416 fires

In western Canada, after a few days of calm, the fires have flared up again in Alberta, forcing the town of Edson in Yellowhead County to evacuate for the second time since May on the evening of June 9. "The fire is out of control, so some firefighting teams have had to retreat. They can't fight this fire," said Luc Mercier, an official in Yellowhead County. CBC quoted Ms. Hayley Waites (a resident of Edson) as saying that people have left the town in large convoys.

“When you panic, all you think about is running away. But as soon as you get out of the car, you wonder what if my house isn't there when I get back?” she worried.

In British Columbia, the town of Tumbler Ridge, about 2,400 residents, has been evacuated as the fire approaches. In the east, Quebec Public Safety Minister Francois Bonnardel said on the morning of June 10 that the situation in many central and northeastern regions remains difficult, with some towns under threat. "This is the first time in history that Quebec has had to deal with so many fires, with so many people evacuated. We are going to have a fight that could last all summer," he predicted.

This year's summer in Canada will end on November 5. About 14,000 people are under evacuation orders in the province of Quebec, while Mr. Bonnardel stressed that "we have not won the battle yet." Environment Canada counted 416 fires burning across the country, of which 203 were out of control.

Smoke spreads to America, Northern Europe

Smoke from Canada's worst wildfires returned to New York City and the northeastern United States on June 10 (local time), after clear skies and clean air in the morning.

By the afternoon, according to Bloomberg, the air in New York continued to be affected by smoke, while moderate air quality was recorded across much of the eastern United States, extending as far as Florida. "As long as the fires are burning, the smoke will continue to have an impact," said Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's New York office.

Earlier, on June 9, US President Joe Biden said many people were affected by smoke from fires in Canada. The leader said he was sending more resources to Canada, including firefighters and firefighting equipment, after sending 600 people in May. More than 111 million people in the US have been affected by air quality at warning levels due to the fires, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.

According to CNN, smoke from the fires in Canada has also spread to Greenland, Iceland and as far away as Norway. Scientists at the Norwegian Institute for Climate and Environmental Research (NILU) detected the increase in smoke using highly sensitive equipment and confirmed its source using forecasting models. Many people in Norway can smell and even see the smoke as a light mist. However, Nikolaos Evangeliou, a senior scientist at NILU, said that unlike many parts of the United States that are affected by harmful pollution, people in Norway may not experience any health effects because the smoke has traveled far and is very thin.

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