Canada’s wildfires, whose frequency and intensity are linked to climate change, have set records for the amounts of land that they have burned and have sent vast plumes of smoke across Canada and into the United States.
As of last Friday, more than 1,000 fires were burning across Canada, with more than 600 of those deemed out of control by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. In the U.S, there are also fires in Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.
In July, eight of the nine Cree communities, a native tribe in Canada, located in Quebec, with a collective population of about 21,000, were under total or partial evacuation orders. Some were airlifted by commercial airliners or Chinook helicopters operated by the Canadian Royal Air Force. In some Cree communities, older people, young children, and those with health issues were taken out by bus along hundreds of miles of gravel roads, saving thousands.
In June, Ms. Gull-Masty was among roughly 1,000 residents of Waswanipi, an Indigenous community in northern Quebec, who were forced to leave after a large wildfire threatened the town. “We are basically refugees of climate in this territory,” she said. “We are constantly escaping either risk of fire or impact of smoke in the community.” While no one has been killed by the fires that have threatened Indigenous communities, they have inflicted immeasurable damage to the forest ecology, disrupting a way of life that’s reliant on hunting and fishing for food.
In Canada, the fires are record-breaking. A single fire near the Quebec town of Radisson that started during an intense lightning storm on June 1 is still burning and is now two and a half times the size of the largest wildfire ever recorded in California, according to the interagency forest fire agency. On July 20, a period of rain had contained the fires and dissipated the smoke near Nemaska, allowing about 300 evacuees to return from hotels outside Quebec City. But, three days later, the fires roared back and the skies again turned orange.
Such gigantic blazes have contributed to bands of heavy smoke that have blanketed large parts of the United States and led to warnings in early June about hazardous levels of smoke pollution across the Eastern Seaboard.
These record-breaking wildfires in Canada and the U.S. are quite impactful, having injured over 14,000 people and took the lives of five. In total, the fire has burned over 25 million acres of land.
As of last Friday, more than 1,000 fires were burning across Canada, with more than 600 of those deemed out of control by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. In the U.S, there are also fires in Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.
In July, eight of the nine Cree communities, a native tribe in Canada, located in Quebec, with a collective population of about 21,000, were under total or partial evacuation orders. Some were airlifted by commercial airliners or Chinook helicopters operated by the Canadian Royal Air Force. In some Cree communities, older people, young children, and those with health issues were taken out by bus along hundreds of miles of gravel roads, saving thousands.
In June, Ms. Gull-Masty was among roughly 1,000 residents of Waswanipi, an Indigenous community in northern Quebec, who were forced to leave after a large wildfire threatened the town. “We are basically refugees of climate in this territory,” she said. “We are constantly escaping either risk of fire or impact of smoke in the community.” While no one has been killed by the fires that have threatened Indigenous communities, they have inflicted immeasurable damage to the forest ecology, disrupting a way of life that’s reliant on hunting and fishing for food.
In Canada, the fires are record-breaking. A single fire near the Quebec town of Radisson that started during an intense lightning storm on June 1 is still burning and is now two and a half times the size of the largest wildfire ever recorded in California, according to the interagency forest fire agency. On July 20, a period of rain had contained the fires and dissipated the smoke near Nemaska, allowing about 300 evacuees to return from hotels outside Quebec City. But, three days later, the fires roared back and the skies again turned orange.
Such gigantic blazes have contributed to bands of heavy smoke that have blanketed large parts of the United States and led to warnings in early June about hazardous levels of smoke pollution across the Eastern Seaboard.
These record-breaking wildfires in Canada and the U.S. are quite impactful, having injured over 14,000 people and took the lives of five. In total, the fire has burned over 25 million acres of land.
