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MONTREAL (Reuters) – The haze from wildfires in northeastern Canada eased there and much of the northeastern United States on Friday, but Canadian officials warned it could be a marathon fire season and welcomed help from firefighters from other countries.
A squad of 100 French firefighters landed in Canada and were on their way to the fire area on Friday. Hundreds more from the United States, Portugal and Spain are expected in the coming days, Public Security Minister François Bonardelle said, and about 1,200 people are expected to be fighting fires in the province of Quebec by Monday.
thick Forest fires US and Canadian officials said the smoke looming over daily life this week for millions of people in Canada and parts of the US East Coast has largely cleared.
“We are doing a much better job,” the US National Meteorologist said Brian Putnam He said. “There seems to be less smoke being produced in Canada.”
He said the weather pattern looks the same, but there is less smoke.
The situation in the province remains critical but is improving, said Maite Blanchett-Vezina, Quebec’s minister of forests and natural resources.
The provincial wildfire agency said the additional firefighters are a sign that “the sprint phase is over and we’re now in the marathon phase,” she said at a Quebec City news conference.
Blanchett-Vezina said efforts in the coming days will allow firefighters to contain and begin extinguishing some of the roughly 140 fires that remained active across Quebec on Friday, including some that were allowed to burn freely due to staff shortages.
The improved situation also allows the province to lift the ban on activities in the woods in most of the Cote-Nord and parts of the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean regions, she said, although woodland work and all forms of fire remain prohibited.
As of Friday, the fires have forced more than 13,500 Canadians from their homes, many of them in the northern municipalities of Chebogamau and L’Abel-sur-Quivillon. About 50 people have also been evacuated from a detention center in Amos, Quebec, Bonardelle said, as a precaution.
Although the situation has stabilized, Bonardell said it is likely that many evacuees will not be able to return home until next week.
He announced that the province would provide C$1,500 (US$1,224) per family evacuated and fully reimburse affected municipalities for costs incurred to run shelters, manage evacuations and fight fires.
The Quebec Forest Fire Agency has described the current wildfire season as the worst on record. The county has recorded a total of 444 wildfires so far this year, compared to an average of 207 on the same date during previous years.
Experts say the bushfires were sparked from an unusually dry and warm period in the spring, and no rain is expected until next week.
Canadian officials say there have been no reports of injuries or deaths so far from the fires.
in Nova ScotiaMeanwhile, most evacuation orders were lifted on Friday, nearly two weeks after a series of unprecedented wildfires raged in the southwest corner of the county and on the outskirts of Halifax.
Officials in Shelburne County, where the largest wildfire in the county’s history continued to spiral out of control, lifted all evacuation orders at noon. The wildfire there, which started May 27 near Lake Barrington, hasn’t increased since the weekend thanks to the work of firefighters and the wet, cold weather.
The Lake Barrington fire forced more than 6,000 people from their homes and destroyed 60 homes and cottages, as well as 150 other structures.
Wildfire smoke that lingered over Toronto for days has now cleared, resulting in a marked improvement in air quality in Canada’s most populous city, but haze persists in western Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Columbia.
A squad of 100 French firefighters landed in Canada and were on their way to the fire area on Friday. Hundreds more from the United States, Portugal and Spain are expected in the coming days, Public Security Minister François Bonardelle said, and about 1,200 people are expected to be fighting fires in the province of Quebec by Monday.
thick Forest fires US and Canadian officials said the smoke looming over daily life this week for millions of people in Canada and parts of the US East Coast has largely cleared.
“We are doing a much better job,” the US National Meteorologist said Brian Putnam He said. “There seems to be less smoke being produced in Canada.”
He said the weather pattern looks the same, but there is less smoke.
The situation in the province remains critical but is improving, said Maite Blanchett-Vezina, Quebec’s minister of forests and natural resources.
The provincial wildfire agency said the additional firefighters are a sign that “the sprint phase is over and we’re now in the marathon phase,” she said at a Quebec City news conference.
Blanchett-Vezina said efforts in the coming days will allow firefighters to contain and begin extinguishing some of the roughly 140 fires that remained active across Quebec on Friday, including some that were allowed to burn freely due to staff shortages.
The improved situation also allows the province to lift the ban on activities in the woods in most of the Cote-Nord and parts of the Saguenay-lac-Saint-Jean regions, she said, although woodland work and all forms of fire remain prohibited.
As of Friday, the fires have forced more than 13,500 Canadians from their homes, many of them in the northern municipalities of Chebogamau and L’Abel-sur-Quivillon. About 50 people have also been evacuated from a detention center in Amos, Quebec, Bonardelle said, as a precaution.
Although the situation has stabilized, Bonardell said it is likely that many evacuees will not be able to return home until next week.
He announced that the province would provide C$1,500 (US$1,224) per family evacuated and fully reimburse affected municipalities for costs incurred to run shelters, manage evacuations and fight fires.
The Quebec Forest Fire Agency has described the current wildfire season as the worst on record. The county has recorded a total of 444 wildfires so far this year, compared to an average of 207 on the same date during previous years.
Experts say the bushfires were sparked from an unusually dry and warm period in the spring, and no rain is expected until next week.
Canadian officials say there have been no reports of injuries or deaths so far from the fires.
in Nova ScotiaMeanwhile, most evacuation orders were lifted on Friday, nearly two weeks after a series of unprecedented wildfires raged in the southwest corner of the county and on the outskirts of Halifax.
Officials in Shelburne County, where the largest wildfire in the county’s history continued to spiral out of control, lifted all evacuation orders at noon. The wildfire there, which started May 27 near Lake Barrington, hasn’t increased since the weekend thanks to the work of firefighters and the wet, cold weather.
The Lake Barrington fire forced more than 6,000 people from their homes and destroyed 60 homes and cottages, as well as 150 other structures.
Wildfire smoke that lingered over Toronto for days has now cleared, resulting in a marked improvement in air quality in Canada’s most populous city, but haze persists in western Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta and parts of British Columbia.
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