© Reuters. Smoke billows from a wildfire in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia, Canada, in a screenshot taken from video, June 8, 2023. BC Wildlife Service/Handout via REUTERS
by David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian province of Quebec says rain and outside help can help win the battle against more than 100 wildfires spewing plumes of smoke that have left cities on the Atlantic coast gasping for breath.
Officials say that by Monday there will be about 1,200 firefighters, including more than 100 from France, battling blazes in a densely wooded province of just 8.5 million people that covers an area larger than Germany, Spain and France combined.
“Some rain is expected… In the next few days there is a risk that the situation will remain critical. But the arrival of French firefighters will really help,” Forestry Minister Maite Blanchett-Vezina told reporters on Friday.
By late Friday, there were 422 fires across Canada, 125 of them in Quebec. Canadian wildfires occur regularly in the warmer summer months, but the scale of the current fire—and its early arrival—is unprecedented.
Federal meteorologist Gerald Cheng told reporters Friday that some rain was expected over the weekend in Quebec, but added, “Whether this rain is enough to put out the fires remains to be seen.”
Authorities in the Pacific province of British Columbia, where several small settlements have been evacuated, have made little mention of progress in fighting the fires there.
“Right now the conditions are very dry. Please be careful so that we can do everything we can to avoid a catastrophic fire season,” British Columbia Premier David Ibe told reporters on Friday.
More than 13,000 people have been evacuated from towns in northern Quebec.
Some of the roads that were closed are now open again, Vezina said, adding, “We are moving in the right direction.” Asked if people could actually be allowed to go home, Quebec Minister of Public Safety François Bonardelle said, “It is clear that (the situation) may remain problematic until Monday night.”
The federal environment ministry is scheduled to brief reporters at 11:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Saturday to discuss the latest forecasts for Quebec City and neighboring Ontario.