(Montreal) In the west of the country, fires have intensified again, leading to the evacuation of several thousand people, while in Quebec authorities on Saturday predicted a fight against the fire that will last “all summer”.
Posted at 4:37pm.
After a few days of lull, the Alberta fires flared up again. An evacuation order was issued in the city of Edson, which has a population of about 8,400, Friday night, its second since early May.
“The fire is so out of control that some logging teams have had to retreat,” said Luc Mercier, Edson-area administrative manager for Yellowhead County. “You can’t fight this fire.”
Hayley Waites left Edson with her children on Friday night along with a “huge convoy of people”. “When you panic and you want to give it your all, all you think about is running,” she told CBC. “But as soon as we start driving, we say to ourselves, ‘What if my house isn’t there when I get back?’ “.
In northeastern British Columbia, the town of Tumbler Ridge, population 2,400, was also largely evacuated after a fire raged just a few miles from the town.
In Quebec, Public Safety Minister Francois Bonnardel said Saturday morning that the situation in the central and north-west of the province remained difficult and several communities were still under threat. The fires in the north-east are considered “stable”.
“It’s a first in Quebec’s history to fight so many fires and evacuate so many people,” he said. “We will 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 Secretary of Public Safety.
Across the country, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC) records 416 active fires, including 203 out of control.
Canada is experiencing an unprecedented year, with more than 4.6 million hectares burned year-to-date, overall well above the average for recent decades.