From British Columbia to Nova Scotia, wildfires spread across Canada
More than 400 active wildfires raged in Canada on Tuesday night. according to authoritiesexacerbating a wildfire season that has forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, sparked a sense of fear across the vast country and sparked air quality warnings hundreds of miles south across the United States.
The threat of wildfires, which have stretched from British Columbia on the west coast to Nova Scotia, nearly 2,900 miles away in the east, in recent weeks was brought to the political heart of the nation on Tuesday. A thick haze hung over Parliament Hill and the towering Gothic Revival building that houses the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa. The sun was obscured by smoke, the sky an apocalyptic orange hue.
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said hundreds of soldiers have been deployed across the country to help with firefighting. “This is a scary time for a lot of people,” Trudeau said early this week, noting that many Canadians forced to evacuate in recent days had only a few hours to pack before fleeing their homes.
In a country known for its scenic landscapes and orderliness, the out-of-control wildfires have fueled unrest and underlined the dangers of global warming. Scientific research suggests that heat and drought related to climate change are major reasons for the increase in larger and more intense fires ravaging the country.
The fires have also underscored the interconnectedness between Canada and its neighbor to the south with smoke from the hundreds of wildfires raging across eastern Canada, casting a hazy veil over New York City and polluting air quality from Minnesota to Massachusetts.
Eastern Canadian cities like Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, home to the majority of the country’s population, which had so far been largely immune to wildfires in distant provinces, ended any sense of complacency on Tuesday. Ottawa was one of the places in Ontario with the highest health risk due to poor air quality, according to local authorities.
Plumes of smoke also hung over Toronto, the nation’s financial capital, on Tuesday night, and schools announced that students would take a break on Wednesday. During the day, a sour smell filled parts of the city, as many residents did not go outside.
“Is It Time To Bring Back Masks With Wildfire Smoke In Forecast For Toronto?” asked The Toronto Starthat bring back bad memories of pandemic times.
With more than 160 wildfires active in Quebec on Tuesday, some Montreal residents closed their windows. Smog hung over parts of the city and health authorities advised residents of Laval, a city north of Montreal, to wear N95 masks.
The wildfires also affected businesses, including many mining companies suspend operations in Quebec.
Katrina Eyk, a senior meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, the ministry that coordinates environmental policy, said winds had pushed plumes of wildfire smoke from Quebec over southern Ontario, undermining air quality and visibility. Canadian health authorities have warned that the smoke can cause symptoms ranging from sore and watery eyes to coughing, dizziness, chest pain and palpitations.
“It’s still pretty dirty out there,” Ms Eyk said from Toronto on Tuesday night. “But on Thursday, it looks like with the wind shifting generally to the northeast, that plume could come right over the Greater Toronto Area and create some pretty bad conditions.”
The wildfires have already shaken British Columbia and Alberta, an oil and gas producing province.
On Canada’s east coast, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a wildfire late last month forced the evacuation of more than 16,000 people.
Michael Mehta, an environmental social scientist and professor at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, said the entrenched reality of smoke hovering over major cities could stimulate renewed debate about the risks of climate change.
Until now, he said, many on the East Coast had not had firsthand exposure to the health risks of air pollution caused by wildfires that have gripped western counties in recent years. “There’s essentially a disconnection,” he said. “They haven’t had this experience.”