Montreal: Canadian wildfires have burned more than 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) of land this year, a record-breaking figure that will continue to grow in the coming weeks, government data showed Saturday.
According to national statistics from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC), the previous highest was in 1989, when 7.3 million hectares of land burned during the entire year.
A total of 4,088 fires have been reported since January, including several that have scorched hundreds of thousands of hectares of land. Along the way, more than 150,000 people have been displaced.
Given the scale and extent of the fire, the authorities had to leave most of them to burn.
Most of the fires have started in forests, away from populated areas – but they still have serious consequences for the environment.
“This year we find ourselves with figures that are worse than even our most pessimistic scenarios,” Yann Boulanger, a researcher at Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources, told AFP.
“The completely strange thing is that there has been no relief since the beginning of May,” he said.
As of Saturday, there were 906 active fires in the country, including 570 deemed out of control – no province spared.
The dire situation has changed across the country in recent months: In May, at the start of wildfire season, Alberta in the west was the center of attention with unprecedented fires.
Several weeks later, Nova Scotia, an Atlantic province with a mild climate, took the lead, followed by Quebec, where massive fires produced a plume of smoke that engulfed parts of the United States.
Since the beginning of July, the situation in British Columbia has taken a dramatic turn, with more than 250 fires started in just three days last week, mostly by lightning.
Much of Canada is suffering from severe drought, with months of below average rainfall and warm temperatures.
Scientists say the country is warming faster than the rest of the planet due to its geography and is experiencing extreme weather events that have increased in intensity and frequency due to climate change.
According to national statistics from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC), the previous highest was in 1989, when 7.3 million hectares of land burned during the entire year.
A total of 4,088 fires have been reported since January, including several that have scorched hundreds of thousands of hectares of land. Along the way, more than 150,000 people have been displaced.
Given the scale and extent of the fire, the authorities had to leave most of them to burn.
Most of the fires have started in forests, away from populated areas – but they still have serious consequences for the environment.
“This year we find ourselves with figures that are worse than even our most pessimistic scenarios,” Yann Boulanger, a researcher at Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources, told AFP.
“The completely strange thing is that there has been no relief since the beginning of May,” he said.
As of Saturday, there were 906 active fires in the country, including 570 deemed out of control – no province spared.
The dire situation has changed across the country in recent months: In May, at the start of wildfire season, Alberta in the west was the center of attention with unprecedented fires.
Several weeks later, Nova Scotia, an Atlantic province with a mild climate, took the lead, followed by Quebec, where massive fires produced a plume of smoke that engulfed parts of the United States.
Since the beginning of July, the situation in British Columbia has taken a dramatic turn, with more than 250 fires started in just three days last week, mostly by lightning.
Much of Canada is suffering from severe drought, with months of below average rainfall and warm temperatures.
Scientists say the country is warming faster than the rest of the planet due to its geography and is experiencing extreme weather events that have increased in intensity and frequency due to climate change.