Per editor: Bi Lu Ming
According to CCTV News reported on June 15, recently, in British Columbia in western Canada, the weather continued to be dry, and local forest fires were still raging. On Vancouver Island in the southwest of the province, bushfires disrupted local transportation and blocked supplies to the city. The wildfire on Vancouver Island is located in the local Lake Cameron, just over 20 kilometres from the nearest city, Port Albone. So far, the forest fire has burned an area of 254 hectares and is still spreading.
On both sides of the road, you can see that there are power poles very close to the trees, and once the forest fire spreads, it will form a huge hidden danger. Currently, the only Route 4 to Cameron Lake is closed. Due to the spread of forest fires, the supply of daily necessities in Port Albone is also in a tight state.
Image source: video screenshot
On the 13th local time, according to the data released by the Canadian Interdepartmental Forest Fire Center on its official website, as of the 12th, the area of Canadian forest fires has reached 50,000 square kilometers. Canadian government officials said on the 12th that this year's fire situation has become the most serious year since Canada entered the 21st century.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
"The worst year of the 21st century"
According to CCTV News on June 14, Canadians refer to the months between spring and fall each year as "wildfire season" because of the occurrence of forest fires every year. But this year's forest fires are particularly concerning, as the smoke pollution caused by the fires has expanded to many major cities in North America. Second, it has just entered the wildfire season. In other words, the worst months of forest fires are yet to come. Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair defined this year's forest fire situation as "the worst year since the 21st century" at a press conference on the 12th.
According to data released by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are currently 447 fire sites across Canada, of which 229 are out of control. According to the explanation of the Canadian fire department, the loss of control state includes both fire points that cannot be extinguished temporarily, and fire points that the fire department does not intend to extinguish and is left to extinguish.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Local media believe that this year's forest fire situation has exposed many problems in Canada's response to fires, such as the obvious lack of aerial fire fighting capabilities. As for what caused forest fires, researchers say a significant portion of this year's fires could be caused by human activity.
More than 200 wildfires remain out of control in Canada
According to Xinhua News Agency on June 13, Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair said at a press conference on the 12th that the latest data shows that there are currently 431 wildfires burning throughout Canada, of which 208 are out of control.
The Canadian News Agency quoted Blair as saying that the total area of wildfires in Canada has exceeded 47,000 square kilometers this year. While things have improved markedly in some places, in the West, Quebec and parts of northern Ontario, the smoke from wildfires is still a concern.
Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Blair said about 30,000 residents of Canada are currently evacuated. By comparison, as of the 7th, the figure was in the early 20,000s. As of the 7th, the data also showed that there were 414 wildfires burning in Canada, of which 239 were out of control; The area burned by wildfires totaled about 38,000 square kilometers.
The Canadian government has sent thousands of people to fight the fire, including emergency managers, aerial experts and military personnel. Nearly 1,100 international firefighters are currently helping to fight fires across Canada, and hundreds of firefighters from Portugal, Spain, Chile and other countries will join in the coming days.
Since May, wildfires have spread across Canada, causing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes, and the smog-producing smog from the burning has affected East Coast cities such as New York and the Midwest. The European Commission said in a June 8 announcement that about 41,000 square kilometers of wildfires have been burned so far in Canada, an area the size of the Netherlands.
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