After the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan in early May, it is Nova Scotia’s turn to suffer very violent forest fires. One of them reached the suburbs of Halifax and forced authorities to evacuate more than 16,000 people from the northwest of the city. It now seems partially under control.
Several fires remain out of control, such as the one raging near Lake Barrington, in this small province in eastern Canada, which has already ravaged an unprecedented area of 20,000 hectares: the largest fire previously recorded in New Scotland had ravaged 13,000 hectares in 1974.
Already 13% burnt area than an average season
At the beginning of May, the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan (and, to a lesser extent, British Columbia), located in the west of the country, were the prey of gigantic fires, among the most violent. and the most extensive observed for a long time. More than 1.13 million hectares of forest burned in Alberta and about 850,000 hectares in Saskatchewan.
Across Canada, according to federal agenciesas of May 31, more than 2.7 million hectares have been destroyed since the start of the fire season, which already exceeds the average area burned in a full season by 13% (2.39 million hectares). hectares on average between 1990 and 2022), and represents eight times more than the average area burned on May 31 since 1990.
According satellite readings from the European Copernicus serviceforest fires in the three states of western Canada have already released approximately 20.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere between 1er and on May 18, 2023, record levels.