Near Vancouver arrived the fires that have been burning for days in Canada and now threaten entire communities in the west. Authorities warn that the situation will get worse in the coming summer months.
Canada is already living in early fires, with dozens of fronts that the Fire Brigade describes as “monstrous”. The fires devour forests at an unprecedented pace, with the only possible exception in 2023, the year of the worst fires in the country’s history. 35 million acres have already been converted into a deceit – an area equal to the entire Belgian.
“It’s quite scary,” commented Max Uainberg, who lives in the city of Skamamis, about 65 kilometers north of Vancouver, a big one and more than three millions of residents. “I’m shocked that (the fire) is so close.”
In the forest surrounding the community the smoke is dense, a French agency reporter noted. On Tuesday night, residents came out restless with a look on the front: the flames were visible.
On houses, some installed tires or watering systems to wet the walls.
The fire, out of control, was rapidly enlarged within hours, reaching 200 acres and now threatening the city of Skomis and its 25,000 inhabitants. Authorities in the area declared a state of emergency and warned residents to be ready to abolish “within a short time”.
“I have never seen this before, it’s worrying,” says Luke Proteptu. The young man, 19, has already prepared a sack and helped his father “place the trailer on the jeep, for the case we need to leave”.
For Mark-Andre Paris, a researcher at the Canadian Forestry Service, the situation is becoming increasingly ‘worrying’. “We are seeing more and more fires in areas where they were not manifested in the past,” he explains to AFP.
Somewhere 225 fronts are active in central and in the western part of the giant country of North America. Over 30,000 residents have already been forced to leave their homes.
And the situation is going on even worse in the next three months, the authorities stress, against the backdrop of continuing drought and temperatures, higher than normal for the season.
The land burned at the end of May “are three times the average of the last decade for this period of the year,” said Bill Merifild, a researcher at the Ministry of the Environment.
The intensity of the fires is now reminiscent of many in the summer of 2023, which had been described as revealing, as 180 million acres were burned, according to updated data from the Canadian Forest Fire Center (CIFFC).
Canada, a country that is heated twice faster than the rest of the planet, has been facing in recent years with ever more extreme meteorological phenomena and so -called natural disasters.
Increasing temperatures due to anthropogenic climate change means less snow, shorter and milder winters, and – the main – summer conditions that favor fires, experts explain.
In Saskatsuan (centrally), who lived the worst start of the forest fire season for years, resulting in a state of emergency in late May, the last two weeks have been “very tough”, Scott Moou, the Prime Minister, acknowledged yesterday.
However, although the firefighters “continue their battle with fires in the north”, about “half of the inhabitants” who had to get away from their homes are preparing to return to their communities, he added.
According to authorities, most fires are due to human activities – often burst out of accidents, as the dry environment favors their event and spread.