The latest on wildfires and wildfire smoke in Canada
Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season of the 21st century.
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair announced the grim milestone Monday, saying more than 47,000 square kilometres have burned so far this year, with 431 wildfires currently burning across Canada.
In Nova Scotia, the provincial government has announced that the huge Barrington Lake wildfire in Shelburne County, which started May 27, is finally under control – the last of that province’s wildfires to be tamed.
Hundreds of people in B.C. have either been forced from their homes or are under an evacuation alert as the 4,660-square-kilometre Donnie Creek blaze continues to rage, having grown to be the second largest ever recorded wildfire in the province.
Follow updates from across the country below.
Nova Scotia wildfires considered under control after more than two weeks
All of Nova Scotia’s wildfires are now under control, more than two weeks after an unprecedented string of fires broke out in the southwestern corner of the province and in the Halifax area.
The provincial government has announced that the huge Barrington Lake wildfire in Shelburne County, which started May 27, is finally under control – the last of the wildfires to be tamed.
That fire grew to more than 235 square kilometres, the largest recorded in the province’s history.
The fire forced more than 6,000 people from their homes and destroyed 60 houses and cottages, as well as 150 other structures.
Firefighters from the province’s Natural Resources Department, the Department of National Defence, Newfoundland and Labrador and the United States are still on the scene to extinguish hot spots.
Meanwhile, the province has lifted a provincewide burn ban, and the remaining restrictions on travel and activities in the province’s woodlands were lifted as of 3 p.m. local time.
Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton issued a statement saying residents must remain vigilant about fire safety as the forest fire season is just starting.
“Everyone has a responsibility to prevent forest fires and keep their fellow Nova Scotians safe,” Rushton said. “That’s why we have the burn-safe map, which tells Nova Scotians when they can and cannot burn.”
The provincewide burn ban was announced May 29, a day after a wildfire started in the suburbs north of Halifax. That fire forced 16,000 people out of their homes, and destroyed 151 homes and dozens of other structures.
The Canadian Press
Wildfire updates in B.C.
Hundreds more properties have been warned to be ready to evacuate on short notice after high winds fanned a massive wildfire in northeastern British Columbia that is the second largest in the province’s history.
The Peace River Regional District issued the latest alert covering 370 more properties in remote areas north of Fort St. John Monday as winds whipped up the 4,800-square-kilometre Donnie Creek blaze.
The Donnie Creek wildfire is shown in this handout photo provided by the BC Wildfire Service.HO/The Canadian Press
The BC Wildfire Service says more than 140 people are working to contain the lightning-caused wildfire that was sparked on May 12, and is now surpassed in size by only the 2017 Plateau Fire at 5,210 square kilometres.
The chief of a First Nation near the edge of the Donnie Creek fire says the community is worried about protecting more than half a dozen of its trapline cabins.
Doig River First Nation Chief Trevor Makadahay says they’re trying to figure out a way to protect the structures and help the BC Wildfire Service, where resources have been stretched thin.
He says a handful of other cabins have already been lost in the same fire.
Multiple evacuation alerts and orders are in place just north of the First Nation as a result of the growing fire.
Makadahay says heavy smoke in the area has prompted his government to purchase air purifying units for elders who have been forced to stay indoors.
He says the community has an emergency operations centre up and running and plans are in place for a possible evacuation – if it comes to that.
More information is expected later Tuesday about what officials describe as the “volatile and rapidly evolving” wildfire situation, as another storm brings rain, powerful winds and potential lightning to the region.
The district says it will have updates on the vast Donnie Creek blaze that has charred nearly 4,660-square kilometres south of Fort Nelson, as well as the almost 200-square-kilometre Kiskatinaw fire threatening Tumbler Ridge.
Environment Canada says a system is sweeping across B.C., and will dump up to 25 millimetres of rain over the parched Peace River region, with thunderstorms forecast later in the day, followed by winds gusting to 60 kilometres per hour.
The same system has also spawned severe thunderstorm watches for a large part of southeastern B.C., a wind warning for the west side of Vancouver Island and special weather statements for most other central and southern regions.
That includes the eastern Vancouver Island area where the small but aggressive Cameron Bluffs fire continues to burn out of control on steep hills above Highway 4, indefinitely closing the only paved link to Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet.
The BC Wildfire Service says 77 active wildfires are currently burning in B.C., and with the exception of a small area of the Kootenay-Boundary region, most of the province is ranked at a high to extreme fire danger.
Wildfire updates in Quebec
French firefighters battle fires north of the city of Chibugamau, Que., on June 12, 2023.QUENTIN TYBERGHIEN/AFP/Getty Images
Rain in the forecast and the pending arrival of dozens of foreign firefighters raised hopes that Quebec’s more than 7,000 fire evacuees would be able to return home in the coming days, the province’s public security minister said Tuesday.
Francois Bonnardel told reporters that rain showers and cooler temperatures were expected to move into northwestern Quebec, where powerful forest fires have threatened the towns of Lebel-sur-Quevillon and Normetal. The rain should provide some relief to firefighters over the next three or four days – and hopefully bring good news for displaced residents eager to return home, Bonnardel said.
“People want a little hope,” he told reporters Tuesday in Montreal. “I’m going to try to give them some by telling them that with the weather forecasts for the next hours, we should be able to give you good news in the next 24, 48 hours.”
He said there were slightly more than 7,200 evacuees as of Tuesday morning, down from more than 13,500 late last week – the number varies from hour to hour.
Residents of Chibougamau, 500 kilometres northwest of Quebec City, were returning home after an evacuation order was lifted Monday, and people from a handful of smaller communities would be able to go home on Tuesday, Bonnardel said.
The situation, he said, remained concerning in Lebel-sur-Quevillon, which has been threatened by two different fires. One fire that came within about two kilometres of a pulp mill was being successfully held back, but another powerful fire further to the south risked getting bigger should the winds shift, he added.
He urged the town’s 2,000 or so residents to be patient, adding that he hoped all evacuation orders would be lifted this week.
“I know people are nervous, are anxious, are eager to return home,” Bonnardel said. “And I’m telling them to be patient. I know it’s not simple or easy for them.”
He said the fires were being “well-fought” in Normetal, located 720 kilometres northwest of Montreal, in the Abitibi region, where flames had reached within 500 metres of town limits in recent days.
There were more than 1,250 people fighting fires in Quebec on Tuesday, Bonnardel said, including members of the Canadian Armed Forces and sizable contingents from France, New Brunswick and the United States.
He said the fire effort would be bolstered by the arrival this week of two contingents of American firefighters, with more reinforcements from Spain and Portugal expected to arrive Wednesday. By the end of the week, he said, there should be 1,500 firefighters on the ground.
There were 125 actives fires in the province as of Tuesday afternoon, down from about 130 on Monday. The province’s forest fire prevention agency – SOPFEU – said 36 of those were out of control. There were two more fires reported in the previous 24 hours, while other fires “regained some vigour” due to windy conditions on Monday, the agency said in an update.
Wildfire updates in Alberta
An out-of-control fire continues to pose a danger to the community of Edson, Alta., west of Edmonton, but officials are hopeful changing temperatures will help firefighters battling the blaze.
The town’s chief administrative officer, Christine Beveridge, says cooler temperatures and some precipitation are in the forecast for the area in the coming days.
A low is to develop over central Alberta Tuesday afternoon, bringing winds up to 30 kilometres per hour and the potential for up to 30 millimetres of rain.
Beveridge says, however, the 2,042-square-kilometre fire remains 1.5 km from the community, and its 8,400 residents remain under an evacuation order.
Beveridge says the area also remains extremely smoky and fire crews are working around the clock to stop the fire from spreading closer to the community.
Wildfire updates elsewhere in the country
Wildfires across Canada are forcing some forestry companies to pause operations, particularly in Quebec.
Close to five million hectares have been burned so far, and workers in some forestry communities have been evacuated, said Derek Nighbor, president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada.
“The impact is significant,” he said, adding, “it’s really varying across the country.”
Some mills and woodlands operations across the country are unable to operate right now for safety reasons, he said.
One of the companies forced to suspend operations is Montreal-headquartered Resolute Forest Products Inc.
“For Resolute, we are particularly impacted by the boreal forest devastation in Quebec, where 2023 is already shaping up the be the worst year in over three decades in terms of the extent of area affected,” spokesman Seth Kursman said in an e-mail.
“Although wildfire is a natural part of forest regeneration, the unseasonal heat and lack of rain has prompted many fires to erupt at the same time, making them very difficult to manage.”
Kursman said the company last week suspended all woodlands operations across Quebec, and suspended operations at its Senneterre and Comtois sawmills in the Abitibi and Nord-du-Québec regions. The company also suspended operations at the Girardville and La Doré wood products facilities in Lac-Saint-Jean as well as the Outardes sawmill in the Côte-Nord region, but was able to restart the Outardes operations shortly after suspending them thanks to cooler temperatures and rain.
Quebec has so far seen the biggest impact in recent weeks when it comes to forestry companies’ operations being affected by wildfires, said Nighbor. The association is also particularly concerned about the fire outside Edson, Alta., he said.