(Montreal) The fires have intensified again in the west of the country, leading to the evacuation of several thousand people, while in Quebec, the authorities predict on Saturday a fight against the fire which will last “all summer “.
After a few days of respite, the fires resumed in Alberta. An evacuation order was issued Friday night in the town of Edson, which has a population of about 8,400, the second since early May.
“The fire is so out of control that some logging crews have had to back out,” said Luc Mercier, administrative manager for Yellowhead County, Edson region. “They can’t fight this fire.”
Hayley Waites left Edson with her children on Friday evening, along with a “huge convoy of people”. “When you panic to go all out, all you think about is running away,” she told CBC. “But as soon as we leave by car, we say to ourselves: ‘what if my house isn’t there when I come back?’ “.
In northeastern British Columbia, the town of Tumbler Ridge, with a population of 2,400, was also largely evacuated, after a fire moved closer to a few kilometers from the town.
In Quebec, Public Security Minister Francois Bonnardel said Saturday morning that the situation in the center and northwest of the province remained difficult, with several communities still under threat. The northeast fires are considered “stable”.
“It’s a first in the history of Quebec to fight so many fires, to evacuate so many people,” he said. “We are going to have a fight which we believe will last all summer,” added the minister.
Nearly 14,000 people are still under evacuation orders in Quebec, according to the Minister of Public Security.
Across the country, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC) lists 416 active fires, including 203 out of control.
Canada is experiencing an unprecedented year with more than 4.6 million hectares burned since the beginning of the year, a total well above the average of recent decades.