The struggle seems unequal and endless. The Canadian authorities went to a terrible evidence, Saturday, June 10: the fire will last “all summer”. In the West, as in the East, the country is surrounded by mega-fires. After a few days of respite, the fires have resumed in the province of Alberta (west). An evacuation order was issued Friday evening in the town of Edson, which has a population of about 8,400, the second since early May. While in Quebec (east), where nearly 14,000 people are still under evacuation orders, Public Security Minister François Bonnardel said on Saturday morning that the situation remained difficult, with several municipalities still under threat. “It’s a first in the history of Quebec to fight so many fires, to evacuate so many people, he said. We’re going to have a fight that we think will last all summer.”
Across the country, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC) lists 416 active fires, including 203 out of control. Canada is experiencing an unprecedented year with more than 4.6 million hectares burned since January, a total well above the average of the last decades. At the beginning of May, when the fires had ravaged 400,000 hectares, Prime Minister Danielle Smith was already alarmed: “It’s ten times more than a usual year and we are only at the beginning” . How to explain such intensity? The Express takes stock.
Geographical and topographical location
In Canada, fires are a seasonal summer threat, linked to the weather. This is not the first time that Canada has been ravaged by mega-fires during the spring and summer. In 2016, the fire in Fort McMurray, in the province of Alberta (already), lasted 15 months and led to the evacuation of nearly 100,000 people. In total, this fire had devastated 5,895 square kilometers and destroyed nearly 2,500 homes and buildings, causing damage to the tune of 10 billion dollars.
“North America is subject to these extreme heat waves, explains meteorologist Cyril Bonnefoy in the columns of the Figaro. This is due to the large plains and the reliefs oriented north south which do not block the rise of hot air.” A statement also detailed by Waldir Da Cruz, Canadian meteorologist, on Radio-Canada. “Geographically, Canada finds itself in a position between the warm air masses, which come directly from the Gulf of Mexico, and the cold air masses, which come to us from the Arctic. These two masses face off, which creates a strong contrast across the country,” he explained on June 2. And to add: “these thermal contrasts between hot and cold air masses have the potential to intensify certain phenomena such as thunderstorms and precipitation, but also drought waves, heat waves and tornadoes, which are when even very present in the country. But these phenomena are set to multiply and intensify with global warming”, warns the meteorologist.
Weather and climate change
In recent weeks, Canada has experienced record temperatures and drought, favoring the outbreak of fires. The mercury topped 31 degrees in Edmonton, posting as high as 32.2°C in Fort McMurray on May 4. “To these early heats are added favorable winds to stir up the fires”, notes the meteorologist Cyril Bonnefoy, always with the Figaro. An “unfortunately perfect cocktail” for the start of fires, describes climatologist Fabio d’Andrea, director of research at the Ecole Normale Supérieure and specialist in extreme phenomena, at the microphone of France Inter on May 11.
“First you need fuel, so there must be wood and undergrowth, and here we are in a forest region of Canada, he underlines. Then you need high temperatures. We have exceeded the previous record not of 1 degree, but of 4 to 5 degrees. You also need a dry soil, and this region has had a rain deficit of several weeks. There is also another condition: the wind. is a smaller-scale, local-scale phenomenon.”
Global warming also increases the virulence and duration of these fires, say scientists. “Fire season lasts longer today due to climate change, note to the chain CBS News Edward Struzik, Fellow of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Policy at Queens University, Canada. Spring comes weeks earlier and fall weeks later. This leaves more time for the fires, and the meadows to burn.”
man’s hand
In a study published in 2017, by IOP-publishing (the publishing company of the Institute of Physics in Bristol), wildfire researcher Mike Flannigan predicts that Western Canada will experience a 50% increase in the number of dry and windy days, which will favor the outbreak and the spread of fires. The increase would be even more dramatic in the east of the country: from 200% to 300% of this kind of “fire-related weather conditions”. Also, because of what is called “Arctic amplification”, these regions are warming twice as much as the rest of the planet, according to scientists.
While there are natural phenomena that can cause fires, such as lightning, most fires in Canada, west and east, appear to have been caused by human activity, accidental or not. A fire near St Andrews, in the southwestern province of New Brunswick, for example, started when an all-terrain vehicle caught fire on a footpath, igniting the surrounding woods. “The most important thing we need to do is educate people about their role in the fires,” commented in an article on the site of Nature Anthony Taylor, forestry specialist at the University of New Brunswick.