Canada wildfires: Quebec hopes rain, outside help can reduce intensity of blazes

The Canadian province of Quebec hopes that a little rain and help from outside can help authorities fight the forest fires that have been producing plumes of toxic air for almost a week now.

Officials announced that by Monday there will be around 1,200 firefighters, out of which 100 have been sent from France, battling blazes across a heavily wooded province of just 8.5 million people that covers more territory than Germany, Spain and France combined.

Forestry Minister Maite Blanchette Vezina said, “Some rain is forecast … in the next few days there is a risk the situation will stay critical. But the arrival of French firefighters is really going to help.”

Since yesterday (Friday), Canada has witnessed around 422 wildfires, 125 of them in Quebec. The fires have affected the air quality of not just Canada but even New York and other neighbouring regions.

Canadian forest fires regularly occur in the warmer summer months but the scope of the current conflagration – and its early arrival – is unprecedented.

Although Federal meteorologist Gerald Cheng said that some rain is expected over the weekend in Quebec, he warned: “Whether or not that rain … is enough to douse the fires, that 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 the fight against blazes there.

“Right now conditions are very dry. Please use caution so that we can try our best to avoid a catastrophic fire season,” British Columbia Premier David Eby told reporters on Friday.

More than 13,000 people have been evacuated from towns in the north of Quebec.

Vezina said some roads that had been closed were now open again, adding, “we’re moving in the right direction.” Asked about the potential for allowing people to actually return home, Quebec public safety minister Francois Bonnardel said, “It’s clear that it (the situation) could stay problematic until Monday night”.

The federal environment ministry is due to brief reporters at 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) on Saturday to discuss the latest forecasts for Quebec and neighbouring Ontario.

With inputs from agencies

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