The equivalent of 4 million football fields have been consumed by fire in Canada, where 203 wildfires were active Wednesday. About 68 are contained and another 24 are likely to be contained, but half are considered "out of control." Most are expected to keep growing even as firefighters mount a "full response," the Washington Post reports. In some cases, where there's no imminent threat to humans or structures, authorities are letting the fires burn without an immediate response. Fires are burning in remote, heavily-forested areas where firefighters just can't reach, and severe winds and heavy smoke are also making suppression difficult.
The burn area is about seven times its 10-year average, covering more than 5.4 million acres, with a single out-of-control fire consuming almost 1.2 million acres, per AFP and the National Post. The fires are spread across five provinces but pose the greatest threat to humans in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, where a combined 33,400 people have been forced to evacuate. Cooler temperatures and higher humidity helped the situation in Alberta this week, but Manitoba and Saskatchewan are expecting strong winds and zero precipitation in the coming days, per CBS News.
The fires come amid warmer than average temperatures, drought, lack of humidity, and strong winds. Over the weekend, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe estimated 90% of the fires burning in the province had been started by humans, per the National Post. That could refer to campfires left unattended or even discarded cigarettes. It's unclear if any were started deliberately. Smoke from the fires has crossed the Atlantic, touching Europe, and traveled as far south as Florida over the weekend. It remains a problem with the National Weather Service issuing air quality warnings for parts of New York and New England on Wednesday. (More Canada stories.)
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