Canadian authorities have declared the state of emergency and warns residents to be ready to “short -term” their homes in the short term
The Canadian authorities declared the state of emergency in the Vancouver region (West), due to the uncontrolled advance of forest fires, alerting residents to be ready to “short -term” their homes in the short term.
The country is experiencing an early and extreme time of forest fires, several of which are large and some threatening the Vancouver region, and the situation worsens during the summer, due to drought and temperatures above normal.
About 225 fires are currently active in the central and west regions of the country, and more than 30,000 people have had to be removed.
The uncontrolled fire near Vancouver spread rapidly in the last few hours, now threatening the district of Squamish and its 25,000 residents.
The forest around the city is wrapped in dense smoke, observed an AFP journalist.
On Tuesday night, several people left to observe the advance of fire, whose flames are visible from the streets.
On the roofs of the houses, some installed watering systems to wet the walls.
The fires are moving on forests at an unprecedented pace, excluding 2023, an extraordinary year in which 3.5 million hectares have been consumed by smoke, approximately the size of Belgium.
Bill Merryfield, an investigator of the Ministry of Environment, told AFP that “the area burned in late May is about three times the average ten years for this time of year.”
For Marc-André Parisien, a investigator of the Canadian Forest Service, the situation is “worrying.”
“We are watching more and more fires in these areas that traditionally did not burn,” he told AFP.
This intensity reminds the 2023 apocalyptic summer, with nearly 18 million hectares burned, according to updated data from the Canada Forest Fire Interagens (CIFC).
Canada, which is warming twice as quickly as the rest of the planet, faces a growing number of severe climate events.
Associated with climate change, increased temperatures are leading to fewer snow, shorter and mild winters and more early summer conditions that favor forest fires, experts.
Scott Moe, head of the government of Saskatchewan (Center), a province that faces one of his worst fire -time starters and declared the state of emergency in late May, the last two weeks were “very difficult.”
But while the province “is still fighting fires in the north,” almost half of the inhabitants are being prepared to return to their communities, he added.
According to official data, most fires are initiated with human activities, often accidentally in very dry environments.
