Canada is in the midst of its most devastating wildfire season on record, with hundreds of fires raging throughout the country and sending massive smoke plumes into the air. Sky haze and air quality alerts have been issued across the United States as a result of air pollution that has traveled south over the Canadian border in the past month, as recorded by satellite pictures.
Canada has around 9 percent of the world’s forests, and this time of year is the prime wildfire season there. Although the season typically runs from May to October, the widespread destruction seen so early this year has put the country on track for its worst season in more than 30 years.
Thousands of Canadians have been forced to leave their homes as a result of the widespread outbreak of out-of-control fires. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre maintains a live map that depicts the spread of the flames, which have been especially devastating to eastern provinces like Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia.
The tweet below verified the news:
Canada is experiencing its most destructive wildfire season on record, as hundreds of blazes burning from coast to coast continue to send tremendous plumes of smoke into the atmosphere. https://t.co/Syz2oPsY37
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 28, 2023
On Tuesday, officials reported 117 active fires in Quebec, the greatest number ever recorded. The western Canadian province of British Columbia recorded the third-highest number of fires, at 99, behind only Alberta and Ontario.
Canadian officials have noted the unprecedented breadth of the outbreak, which has affected every province from the westernmost to the easternmost. Environmental experts and political leaders like Vice President Joe Biden agree that rising temperatures caused by climate change and drought are directly responsible for Canada’s current severe wildfire season.
Also, as CBS News has noted, the extreme Canadian weather is making it more difficult for firefighters to put out the fires. Since the year 2023 began, 2,956 fires have been reported to the National Interagency Fire Center. According to the institute, wildfires in Canada this year have charred at least 7.8 million hectares of land, or about 19.2 million acres.
According to Canada’s National Forestry Database, this area is larger than the previous yearly record set in 1989. According to the most recent interagency tally, there were 490 active fires burning in Canada on Tuesday, with two additional fires being reported since the previous day’s update.
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Air quality in Chicago and Minneapolis was ranked as the world’s worst and second-worst on Tuesday, according to the Swiss air quality technology company IQAir, following a spell of fog, fumes, and copper skies in the northeastern U.S. earlier in June due to wildfire smoke traveling south from eastern Canadian provinces.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, NASA released an image showing a plume of smoke from eastern Canadian wildfires spreading across the Atlantic Ocean and landing in Europe. Most of Canada’s current fires as of Tuesday were deemed “out of control,” a status that applied to 259 blazes.
The department had previously reported 250 fires as being out of control, so the increase was minimal. Of the remaining wildfires under observation, 158 were deemed to be “under control,” while another 73 were labeled as “being held,” meaning they were neither under control nor spreading.
As a result of the wildfires, Canadian authorities have activated “national preparedness level 5” and will use all available resources to put out the fires.
According to a Canadian Forest Office research officer who spoke to CBS News earlier this month, Vice President Joe Biden has announced that American firemen will be dispatched to Canada to aid with the endeavor. They will be joined by their counterparts from Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
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