A massive amount of land has already been scorched by wildfires in Canada this year, and federal fire officials warn the hot, dry weather fuelling the burns is nowhere near over.
The unusually severe start to fire season is prompting warnings to Canadians to know their risk and concerns about a shortage of firefighters as many jurisdictions are now in competition with each other for the number of trained workers available.
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says these conditions this early in the season are unprecedented and the situation in Canada today is very dangerous.
He says the amount of land already burned is more than 10 times the average amount of land burned by June 1st over the last 10 years.
It’s equivalent to five million football fields, or almost five times the size of Prince Edward Island.
As the situation in Alberta grew quickly out of control in early May, the Canadian military moved in to help, and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre also helped commission firefighters from other provinces and other countries.
But federal officials said in a briefing to reporters today that the fire situation is troublesome almost everywhere now, and those provinces need their staff back at home.
The centre’s daily report on the fire situation says demand for firefighting personnel and equipment from other jurisdictions “is extreme,” but the “national availability of resources is limited,” so they’re turning to international partners for help.
Canada has agreements to share firefighters with six other countries, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mexico and Costa Rica.
To date, the centre said 566 firefighters have travelled between provinces this year to help other jurisdictions, and another 443 firefighters and other trained experts have come to Canada from the US, Australia and New Zealand.
Most of them to date have gone to Alberta, where more than a million hectares burned in May.
Currently, the biggest threats are in Atlantic Canada, particularly in Nova Scotia.
Federal officials said another 100 firefighters from the U.S. will arrive in Atlantic Canada over the next few days, and they are also expecting more than 200 firefighters from South Africa in the coming days.
It is not certain yet where those people will be sent.
Officials say there are also ongoing discussions with Mexico.
