Canadian Wildfires Could Last 'All Summer', 203 Of Total 416 Active Fires Are 'Out Of Control'
Canada wildfires: Out of the current list of 416 active fires, 203 are listed as being out-of-control. This is a first in the history of Quebec to fight so many fires, a minister said.
Another set of Canadians was forced to evacuate their homes as the country tries to battle out the new and intensifying wildfire. The country’s west has been particularly hit by the out-of-control fire which, as Quebec Minister of Public Security Francois Bonnardel has said, can last “all summer”, according to the news agency AFP. About 17,800 square miles have burned since the beginning of the year which is well above previous averages leading the country to warm up quicker than the rest of the world.
On Friday, the fires in Alberta intensified which forced the town of Edson to evacuate for the second time since May. Luc Mercier, chief administrative officer of Yellowhead County where Edson is located, said that the fire has been so out of control that sometimes even the forestry department has had to back off.
“They can’t fight this fire”, Mercier said, as quoted by AFP.
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Out of the current list of 416 active fires, environmental authorities have listed 203 as out-of-control fires.
A resident Hayley Waites said the evacuation of Edson took place in the form of an "enormous convoy" of people fleeing the town.
"When you're panicking to go all out, all you think about is running away," she said, as per AFP.
"But as soon as you leave in the car, you ask: 'What if my house is no longer there when I come back?'”, Waites added.
Meanwhile, a town in British Columbia, Tumbler Ridge, which has a population of about 2,400 was largely evacuated as a fire approached within a couple miles of the city.
In the country’s east, on Saturday, Quebec Minister of Public Security Francois Bonnardel said that the situation in the central and northwestern parts of the province remained difficult, with several towns threatened, reported AFP. Fires in northeast Quebec were considered "stable."
"This is a first in the history of Quebec to fight so many fires, to evacuate so many people," Bonnardel said. "We are going to have a fight that we think will last all summer."
About 14,000 people are under evacuation orders in the province, while Bonnardel declared that "we haven't yet won the battle."
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