According to government data, 10 million hectares have been burned, which is more than a fifth of France.

The massive fires ravaging Canada are deadliest ever. More than 10 million hectares, or about a fifth of France, have burned this year, according to Canadian government data released on Saturday July 15. According to national statistics, the previous absolute record in terms of burned areas was in 1989 with 7.3 million hectares. Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).

So far, the country has accounted for 4,089 forest fires since January, and as of Saturday, 905 were still active, of which 571 were not under control. This balance, provisional, is likely to increase further in the coming weeks. Canada, which is warming faster than the rest of the planet, has experienced more extreme weather events in recent years, the intensity and frequency of which has increased due to global warming associated with human activities. Much of the country is in severe drought, with months of below-average rainfall and hot temperatures.

“Worse than our most desperate scenarios”

The authorities do not interfere with the size of the fire and their crowd, so the majority must be allowed to burn. It smokes mainly boreal forests, far from inhabited areas. But with serious consequences for the environment. “We are seeing worse figures this year than our most pessimistic projections”Yann Boulanger, a researcher at Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources, told AFP. “The absolute madness is that there has been no rest since the beginning of May”This expert analyzes forest fires.

At the beginning of the season, in May, Alberta, in the West, concentrated all concerns by facing an unprecedented situation very quickly. A few weeks later, Nova Scotia, an Atlantic province with a much milder climate, and Quebec in particular were engulfed in megafires.

Since early July, the situation has taken a dramatic turn in British Columbia, with more than 250 fires started in three days last week, mainly sparked by lightning.