<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/08/canada-wildfires-air-quality-preparedness>
"Wildfire crews in Canada continue to battle hundreds of blazes across the
country as air quality in major cities remains poor and other regions brace for
intense heat. And as the country burns, experts warn Canada needs to do a
better job of readying its communities in areas increasingly prone to
destructive blazes.
More than half of the 414 fires across the country are out of control, said the
emergency preparedness minister, Bill Blair – with the hottest and driest
months still to come.
Paul Kovacs, the executive director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss
Reduction at Western University, said Canada was increasingly seeing two
wildfire peaks: one in the late summer, and one in the spring.
“When the snow melts early in the spring, and hot, dry weather comes very
early, you have this window of vulnerability,” he said. “Spring fire is much
more evident than it was 20 or 30 years ago. And while we might get a bit of
quiet in the coming weeks as the green returns, we’ll be on edge all over again
soon after.”
Weeks of late spring wildfires have broken records in many regions of Canada,
including in Nova Scotia, where sprawling, destructive wildfires are rare.
In Quebec, where more than 160 fires are burning and the smoke has pushed down
into the United States prompting dozens of air quality warnings, the province’s
premier pleaded with residents to follow evacuation orders.
“Don’t put your life in danger,” said the premier, François Legault. “When we
ask you to evacuate it’s because there’s a real risk.”
In the worst-hit areas, northern Quebec and the western Abitibi region, no rain
is forecast in the coming days.
“I want us all to be realistic so that we don’t see things through
rose-coloured glasses,” said Legault. Already more than 11,000 people have been
displaced by the wildfires and a record 457,000 hectares have burned.
“In the history of [the agency] – nearly 50 years – we’ve surpassed the worst
year on record,” Quebec’s natural resources minister, Maïté Blanchette Vézina,
told reporters. “It’s a situation that’s unprecedented.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
