Early this July, many wildfires appeared across northern Quebec, Canada, spreading easily as climate change has caused the forest to become drier than usual. The smoke has forced the Indigenous people in Quebec to evacuate 5 times.
Dry forests are more prone to catching on fire. In Canada, it’s no different. The wildfires gave off thick smoke that smothered Canada, and then the eastern part of the United States of America. The smoke was so thick that it caused the sky to turn yellow, and the sun red.
The fires and smoke seemed to be the worst in Quebec. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, studies how the fires had spread across Canada. Areas in Quebec are shown to be hit hard by the large and even sometimes uncontrollable wildfires. This affects the Indigenous people disproportionately. Since they are in the middle of the fire, its effects on them are much stronger and more dangerous.
The smoke from the fires damages people’s lungs. For example, 79-year-old, William Wapachee was getting evacuated in a 11 hour bus ride, along the way to a city, when he said he started having trouble breathing and started coughing. He received oxygen from a hospital before even reaching the city. Older and younger people are the most vulnerable to getting sick from the smoke. It can get dangerous for them being so close to the fires directly. Because of that, the Indigenous people have had to be evacuated from their homes five times already.
The wildfires in Canada continue to burn through forests. They are difficult and maybe even impossible to stop completely. Residents of Old Nemaska, Quebec, Canada hope for fall and winter to help end the fires.
Sources:
Wildfires Are Displacing Canada’s Indigenous Communities – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Canadian wildfire maps show where fires continue to burn across Quebec, Ontario and other provinces – CBS News
Dry forests are more prone to catching on fire. In Canada, it’s no different. The wildfires gave off thick smoke that smothered Canada, and then the eastern part of the United States of America. The smoke was so thick that it caused the sky to turn yellow, and the sun red.
The fires and smoke seemed to be the worst in Quebec. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, studies how the fires had spread across Canada. Areas in Quebec are shown to be hit hard by the large and even sometimes uncontrollable wildfires. This affects the Indigenous people disproportionately. Since they are in the middle of the fire, its effects on them are much stronger and more dangerous.
The smoke from the fires damages people’s lungs. For example, 79-year-old, William Wapachee was getting evacuated in a 11 hour bus ride, along the way to a city, when he said he started having trouble breathing and started coughing. He received oxygen from a hospital before even reaching the city. Older and younger people are the most vulnerable to getting sick from the smoke. It can get dangerous for them being so close to the fires directly. Because of that, the Indigenous people have had to be evacuated from their homes five times already.
The wildfires in Canada continue to burn through forests. They are difficult and maybe even impossible to stop completely. Residents of Old Nemaska, Quebec, Canada hope for fall and winter to help end the fires.
Sources:
Wildfires Are Displacing Canada’s Indigenous Communities – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Canadian wildfire maps show where fires continue to burn across Quebec, Ontario and other provinces – CBS News