At a Glance | The hot tip of the iceberg

The forest fire season is for François Legault “never seen”, while everywhere in Canada, the season is likely to be “severe”, according to Justin Trudeau. Experts agree: the phenomenon is unprecedented and possibly looks like the tip of the iceberg for the future. The numbers show it.

422

This is the number of fires declared this year in Quebec. This is a significant jump from the average of 201 which had been established on the same date in the last 10 years. More than 150 fires are still active.

221 256

This is the number of hectares that are currently “affected”, according to SOPFEU, in other words of land area possibly burned or threatened with being so. This represents nearly 305,000 football pitches.

480

This is the number of firefighters and other SOPFEU employees fighting the flames. Nearly 100 French firefighters and 100 American firefighters must be added to this strike force. Quebec has the resources to fight 30 forest fires simultaneously.