Wildfires Raging Throughout Canada

"We have been in a blocked pattern across North America all week long."

"That kept an area of upper level low pressure stuck over the Northeast. The flow around the low pressure has been guiding wildfire smoke from Quebec into the Northeast, Great Lakes, and even Ohio Valley and down in the mid-Atlantic."

Jen Carfango, Weather Channel meteorologist

Wildfire near Edson Photo Gov Alberta Fire Service

"The Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) is a scale from 1 to 10+ that provides an indicator of the health risk related to air quality and can be found on the Environment Canada website or provincial environment ministry sites. Canada’s WeatherCAN app can send alerts about what to do when the air quality is poor."

"There are growing concerns about how to grapple with the long-term health impact of worsening air quality. Experts advise higher-risk individuals to take immediate steps to protect themselves when the risk level of the AQHI increases. According to the index, levels of 4 to 6 are considered moderate risk and vulnerable individuals are urged to reduce or reschedule outdoor activities. Levels of 7 to 10 are considered high risk, and anything above 10 is considered very high risk."

The AQHI forecast bulletins are issued two times per day: the first one is issued at 6:00 a.m., and the second one is issued at 5:00 p.m. local time.

murat yükselir / THE GLOBE AND MAIL Source: Government of Canada

Image released by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, the Sudbury 17 wildfire burns east of Mississagi Provincial Park near Elliot Lake, Ontario, on June 4, 2023.

Canada, beset by an earlier-than-usual wildfire season this year, has been forced to confront a much worse than usual wildfire season. Close to 350 firefighters from the European Union are arriving in Quebec alone to give aid to Canadian wildfire fighters tackling a devastating season. Over a hundred French firefighters arrived a week ago to spend the weekend putting out flames in Quebec where 14,000 people were forced to flee from their homes, threatened by fast-approaching fires. 

Reinforcements from Portugal numbering 140, along with another 97 from Spain are expected in Quebec City; the first time in the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Centre's 22-year history it has sent firefighters to help in Canada. "There is this solidarity. Today unfortunately, it's Canada that is facing these terrible fires. But last year in Spain, it was also a terrible year", noted Claire Kowalewski, the EU's ERCC's liaison officer, stationed temporarily in Canada.

The destruction from this year's wildfire season has been described by Canadian officials as "unprecedented", with nearly 430 forest fires roaring through the country on Sunday, 210 of them burning out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. They have necessitated widespread evacuations, forcing over 100,000 people in nine provinces and territories to leave their homes for safety to escape swiftly-spreading flames.

 

Personnel from the Royal Canadian Air Force are helping battle the fires on the North Shore of Quebec.  (Royal Canadian Air Force)

By Wednesday, 459 wildfires raged across Canada, 234 listed as out of control. There are now 5,000 firefighting personnel from varied countries who have been deployed across Canada to help in the battle against the all-consuming flames with more expected to arrive from Chile and Costa Rica in coming days. Contingents of French and American reinforcements are helping to fight 130 fires raging across Quebec. In the province, 2,800 people remain under evacuation down from over 13,500 last week.

Some 14,000 people were unable to return to their homes in Alberta even as a large portion of Western Canada is anticipating forecasted rain, along with risk of lightning. A major highway in British Columbia, connecting Yukon and northern British Columbia to the rest of the province now is threatened by the huge Donnie Creek wildfire, the blaze chewing through woodlands south of Fort Nelson, B.C. An evacuation alert has been posted for a section of the Alaska Highway by the Peace River Regional District as flames creep within two kilometres.

The B.C. Wildfire Service has reported over 80 active wildfires province-wide, with 37 ranked out of control, in the northeast and another on Vancouver Island included. The Island fire charred over two square kilometres of trees on steep hillside above the only highway linking Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet to the rest of the region. Air quality statements have been posted by Environment Canada for northeastern B.C.

Wildland firefighters work in a forest in Normétal, Que., on June 11, 2023. (Caroline Boyaud/SOPFEU hand out/The Canadian Press)