Wildfires continue to scorch a vast area of land across Canada, with thousands of people being forced to leave their homes. According to government officials, the area affected by the fires is equivalent to more than five million football fields, with the blazes spanning from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. As of now, around 200 wildfires are still raging, with 82 of them being out of control. The wildfires, which have already occurred much earlier in the year than usual, have been causing major concerns to the federal and provincial authorities over how they will manage their firefighting resources and deal with the potential for any future wildfires.
Natural Resources Minister, Jonathan Wilkinson, stated that the early start to the wildfire season is a response to climate change and warns that Canadians are increasingly seeing and feeling its effects, with an attendant impact on the wildfire risk. However, the impact on Canada's various industrial sectors including agriculture, energy, transport and telecommunications have been minor, said officials.
As a response to the localized disaster, hundreds of firefighters from the USA, Australia, and New Zealand along with 200 South African crews landed in Canada the previous week to bolster containment work. Officials have also been expecting Mexican crews to join them soon. The province of Alberta, the top oil-producing state in Canada, has suffered some of the earliest and most significant blazes, with a lot of oil and gas production having to be turned down.
In addition to this, officials are increasingly concerned about the fires in eastern Nova Scotia, which have led to approximately 200 homes being destroyed. Blazes are also continuing in nearby New Brunswick. Although the Canadian government assures its people that they are already preparing for the impacts of climate change this year and in the years to come.