A firefighter died in a field in British Columbia on Thursday while responding to one of the major fires that have been ravaging the country for weeks, her union said Thursday night.
• Also read: This wildfire season is now Canada’s worst on record
This is the first on-site fatality since the historic season began in Canada, where more than 900 fires are currently active and more than 570 are spiraling out of control.
“It is with a heavy heart that our union mourns the loss of a member of our family who lost his life today fighting a wildfire outside of Revelstoke,” union BCGEU said.
AFP
The number of fires continues to increase in the country, especially in western Canada, where several hundred fire outbreaks triggered by thunderstorms were recorded in a few days.
British Columbia, which recently ordered new evacuations, has requested the assistance of 1,000 additional international firefighters.
But “it’s very difficult to get additional firefighting capacity,” BC Fire Department spokesman Cliff Chapman said Thursday.
“It’s very dangerous work. “The conditions we find ourselves in make the job even more dangerous for our employees who work 14, 16, 20 hour days and do whatever it takes to keep these fires away from strategic areas,” he added.
AFP
With 9.6 million hectares already gone up in smoke across the country, which is more than 11 times the average for the last decade, the absolute annual record set in 1989 has already been surpassed by far.
Unusually this year in Canada, both sides of the country are burning at the same time. Some provinces not used to fires have also been affected. In one of the forest fires in northern Quebec alone, more than a million hectares of land burned down.
Canada, which due to its geographical location is warming faster than the rest of the planet, has faced extreme weather events in recent years, the intensity and frequency of which have increased as a result of climate change.