Airtankers work on a wildfire near Edson, Alta., in a Friday, June 9, 2023, in this handout photo.HO/The Canadian Press
Hundreds of wildfires continue to rage across the country, most of them in Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia, triggering new evacuations and preventing other residents from returning home.
In Quebec, Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said Saturday morning that wildfires in the northeast of the province were largely under control, but that the situation in the central and northwestern regions remained challenging, with communities like Chibougamau, Lebel-sur-Quévillon, and Mistissini still at risk.
“We haven’t won the fight yet,” he said in a news conference. Nearly 14,000 people were under evacuation orders in Quebec on Saturday, the minister said, with most of them not expected to be able to return home before Tuesday, when much needed rain is in the forecast.
Mr. Bonnardel said 861 personnel, including Canadian Armed Forces and foreign firefighters, were at work fighting 37 blazes out of the 121 raging across the province’s “intensive zone,” covering most of the inhabited territory.
So far, wildfires have burned more than 700,000 hectares in the zone, which is more than 300 times the average at this time of year for the past decade.
Friday’s national snapshot from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre showed a growing number of out-of-control fires on the West Coast, as hot, dry weather fed flames and led to a fresh round of evacuation orders and alerts.
With 2,414 fires recorded and 4.5 million hectares burned this year as of Friday evening, according to the centre, this has been the most active start to a wildfire season on record.
In western Alberta, the town of Edson was under an evacuation order late Friday for the second time this spring.
Officials said a fire burning near the community of about 8,400 people jumped fire guards and moved closer to populated areas. They warned that there could be impacts to roads and highways if the fire crossed the guards and blocked evacuation routes.
“Because that fire is so out of control, some of the forestry crews have had to back off,” said Luc Mercier, chief administrative officer for Yellowhead County, in a video statement on one of the town’s Facebook pages. “They can’t fight that fire.”
Edson Mayor Kevin Zahara said the weekend would be critical for the town. “We have a lot of warm temperatures in the forecast and it’s windy here right now,” he said. In early May, Edson was evacuated for three days due to another wildfire.
An unprecedented start to the wildfire season led Alberta to bring in a provincewide state of emergency on May 6. At one point, about 29,000 people were out of their homes in various communities.
The state of emergency was lifted last week.
On Friday afternoon, before the evacuation order was issued for Edson and the surrounding area, about 3,500 Albertans remained out of their homes. There were 74 active wildfires in the province Saturday, according to the Alberta Wildfire Status Dashboard, including 25 deemed out of control.
In B.C., there were 78 active wildfires, including 24 deemed out of control according to the online provincial emergency map. Evacuation orders due to wildfires remained in place for the Lytton First Nation, the Village of Lytton, the Peace River Regional District, and the District of Tumbler Ridge.
An advisory published Saturday by the B.C. ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said that Highway 4, on Vancouver Island, would likely remain closed throughout the weekend because of a wildfire near Cameron Lake.
”Damage to the road and instability of the slope above the highway means this closure is likely to last beyond the fire itself,” the ministry said. A four-hour detour route is established by way of industrial forest roads, but its use is recommended for essential travel only, isolating communities on the Island’s west coast like Tofino.
Fire information officer Donna MacPherson said light rain Friday and Saturday helped the 76 firefighters at work in the area, but that the Cameron Bluffs wildfire, now covering 208 hectares, remained out of control. Environment Canada forecasts show hot and dry conditions in the coming days, which could worsen the situation.
With reports from The Canadian Press.