Fires subsided along Canada’s Atlantic coast, but forests burned again to the west. Fires that were believed to have been extinguished erupt again: residents of Edson, a city of 8,400 people located 200 kilometers from Edmonton, the provincial capital of Alberta, were forced to left their homes for the second time in a few weeks. The flames crossed the McLeod River, burning firebreaks intended to protect residents along the way.

Since the first fires that broke out in early May, Canada hasn’t stopped burning. On June 13, the fire map remained dotted red: 449 fires were still active from coast to coast, 11 more than the previous day, including 226 reported ” out of control “. Almost five million hectares have already gone up in smoke; That’s not much (0.5%) considering the size of the territory, but it’s already double the average the country has recorded over the past decade, even if the summer, which favors fires, isn’t over yet has begun. Three provinces are still at war: Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia.

Because Canada’s thirteen provinces and territories are each responsible for forest protection and firefighting, no federal organization is able to list the full number of firefighters currently deployed, or even the equipment deployed; The country has fifty-five Canadair tankers, fifteen of which serve Quebec alone.

But the number of fires, their scale and severity are straining local resources; Canada is struggling alone to deal with the ever-increasing number of fires “Fire season could be particularly intense throughout summer,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already warned.

1,150 foreign firefighters were called to the rescue

The Canadian Interagency Wildfire Center (CIFFC) coordinates the sharing and deployment of local and foreign firefighters nationwide. “When a province needs assistance, we look to see if resources are available elsewhere in the country to meet their needs.explains Jennifer Kamau, communications officer at CIFFC. But today the situation is that we were only able to move 152 Canadian firefighters from one area to another. » So it is the foreign reinforcements that make up for the shortage. A total of 1,150 firefighters have been or will be called to the rescue. In mid-June, more than 700 international firefighters from the USA (266), Australia (218), South Africa (200) and New Zealand (40) were deployed on Canadian soil. Most were deployed in Alberta.

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