More than 16,000 evacuated as wildfires rage outside Halifax
As wildfires ravaged western Canada Tuesday, a fire on the other side of the country in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has forced the evacuation of more than 16,000 people, sparking national concern over wildfires that have run out of control and are killing people. head up, enlarged.
Video footage from downtown Halifax late Sunday showed a dense plume of smoke enveloping the city, turning the sun apocalyptically red, as a fire raged northwest of the city, spreading smoke. The fire also affected an area about 15 miles from Halifax that is home to many suburban professionals and families.
Wildfires have broken out across Western Canada, including British Columbia, with Alberta the hardest hit, an oil and gas-producing province dubbed “the Texas of the North.” Earlier this month, the province declared a state of emergency.
Climate research suggests that heat and drought associated with global warming are major reasons for bigger and stronger fires.
The wildfires on both Canadian coasts have created an ominous feeling.
Fear and uneasiness are over Halifaxa normally serene maritime town on Canada’s Atlantic coast that was founded in 1749 and served as a British naval and military base.
The city government declared a state of emergency and on Monday provincial government officials said an estimated 200 buildings and structures were damaged by the fire. Authorities said Tuesday that no deaths, injuries or missing persons have been reported so far.
On Tuesday, the provincial government of Nova Scotia Ministry of Natural Resources and Renewable Energy Resources said the wildfire had affected an estimated 788 hectares or about 1,950 acres and was “out of control”.
“This is a fast-moving fire,” the department said in a statement. “People are being asked to please stay away from the area.” County officials warned that conditions were also dangerous for firefighters due to high winds.
An investigation is underway into the cause of the fire. But Scott Tingley, forest protection manager for Nova Scotia’s Department of Natural Resources and Renewables, said at a news conference Monday that authorities suspected recent fires were “man-made.”
More than 200 firefighters have been mobilized to fight the blaze and members of Canada’s Department of National Defense have also been sent to the scene.
The fire also affects daily life. More than a dozen schools are closed, while campfires are banned.
Canadian health officials have warned that smoke can cause symptoms including sore and watery eyes, coughing, dizziness, chest pain and palpitations.
In Alberta, as of May 19, about 29,000 people had been displaced from their homes by the recent wildfires, though most have returned to their homes in recent days as the fires have diminished in size and scope.
The fires in Alberta have brought back bad memories of 2016, when a raging wildfire destroyed 2,400 buildings in Fort McMurray, the heart of Canada’s oil sands region with the world’s third largest oil reserves.
In 2021, British Columbia was the site of one of Canada’s worst wildfires in decades, as fires decimated the small community of Lytton after temperatures there hit a record 49.6 degrees Celsius, or 121.3 Fahrenheit.