The number of wildfires in Canada is already “unprecedented” at this stage of the season, but the toll could get even worse over the next few months, which promise to be just as dangerous, Justin Trudeau warned on Monday.
“Our modeling shows that this could be a particularly severe wildfire season throughout the summer,” Trudeau said at a news conference Monday.
Environment Canada experts judge that the risk of severe fire remains “well above average” for the month of June in all the provinces west of Quebec, which is also in a situation ” above average”. Drought and high temperatures are the main culprits.
“Current projections reassure us that we will have enough resources to help across the country, but we are always aware that this could change, so we are preparing contingency plans. […]“, declared the Prime Minister, questioned about the personnel available to lead the battle.
With more than 3,000 firefighters at work, the provinces affected receive the help of 957 foreign firefighters who have come to help, notably from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, France and the Costa Rica.
“We know [que les pompiers] extremely long days in extremely difficult situations. They have our full support,” Trudeau said.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair reported 413 active fires, 249 of which were still out of control on Monday. Nearly 40,000 people are currently evacuated from their homes, and more than 120,000 people have been evacuated in several provinces since the start of the fire season, including in Quebec.
“The images we’ve seen so far this season are some of the harshest we’ve seen in Canada,” Blair said.
To illustrate the historic season that we are currently going through, the Minister quoted the number of hectares of forest burned in the last year, which amount to more than 3.3 million, against an annual average of just over 254,000 hectares for the last ten years.
“We live in a new reality, a reality in which we must listen carefully to what science is telling us,” warned Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
The Bloc Québécois has sent MPs from the affected regions to its ridings to maintain a link with the politics of the federal capital.
“What I hear on the ground from our MPs is that MPs are collaborating and briefing the different ministries and the link, information and actions seem to be right. We get along well on the ground, there is a great collaboration,” declared the parliamentary leader of the Bloc Québécois, Alain Therrien.
The NDP is calling for an emergency evening debate on the forest fires.