Forest fires are still raging on the west coast of the United States and Canada. Around 300 fires are active in British Colombia alone.
Montréal / New York – The authorities have declared a state of emergency because of the devastating forest fires in western Canada. “We have reached a critical point,” said British Columbia Provincial Public Security Minister Mike Farnworth on Tuesday (local time, 07/20/2021). In emergency conditions, the authorities can order mass evacuations and set up protective devices for people who have been brought to safety.
5,700 people were asked by the authorities to leave their homes because of the danger of the forest fires. Tens of thousands more were called upon to prepare for possible similar orders. “Please prepare an evacuation plan for your family”, appealed to the fire department chief Cliff Chapman to the people.
Severe forest fires are raging in western Canada and the west coast of the United States
In western Canada and on the west coast of the USA, severe forest fires have been raging for weeks. There are currently around 300 active fires in British Columbia, and more than 3000 firefighters are working against the flames.
The authorities expect the situation to worsen in the coming days – according to the weather forecasts, it should remain hot and dry. According to Chapman, around 3,000 square kilometers of land were burned by the fire – an area roughly three times the size of what is usual at this time of the year.
USA: New York shrouded in gray haze by forest fires
More than 80 major forest fires are currently raging in the USA as well. In the state of Oregon alone, a fire has so far destroyed more than 137,000 hectares of forest. The fire department chief Rob Allen described the major fire on Tuesday as a “monster”. Fighting this fire is “a marathon, not a sprint”. According to scientists, climate change is increasing the drought in the region, creating the conditions for forest fires to spread.
Meanwhile, the smoke from the forest fires shrouded the east coast metropolis of New York in a gray haze on Tuesday. The environmental authority of the state of New York issued a health alarm due to increased fine dust pollution.
A representative from the agency said it was not unusual for smoke from fires in the west of the country to penetrate the region, but this time it was in a lower layer of air. The weather service predicted a cold front for Wednesday (July 21, 2021), which should put an end to the phenomenon. (ktho / AFP)
Headline list image: © Julie Jacobson / dpa
