Of the around 400 wildfires that are still active in the country, almost half are out of control.
After Alberta and Nova Scotia, Québec faces “never seen before” fires. There are currently 150 assets and a hundred of them are out of control. And no major rain is expected before Monday night.
“With the troops we have, we can cover about 40 fires at the same time, but there are 150 active ones,” Québec Prime Minister François Legault said. “We have to attend to the urgent,” he added.
Québec mobilized hundreds of people to fight the fire and hopes to reach 1,200 with international help, especially with the arrival of French firefighters.
The latest data from Canadian authorities indicate that since January, the flames have consumed 3.8 million hectares of forest, approximately 15 times the average of the last 10 years. The average since 1990 is that forest fires burn a total of 2.5 million hectares per year.
“We see that we are in a worse year than we already had and our resources are at the limit,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, highlighting the need to better prepare for “this new reality.”
More than 20,000 Canadians evacuated
More than 20,000 Canadians have been evacuated, more than half in Quebec, where the government is preparing to move another 4,000.