Wildfires in the American West: evacuations continue, forest fires intensify

Fires continue to wreak havoc in Canada and the United States.

In western Canada, thousands of residents are fleeing rapidly advancing forest fires.

Faced with their amplifications, a few hundred soldiers will be deployed to fight these particularly violent and early fires this year.

British Columbia declared a state of emergency on Monday in the face of the advance of forest fires.

More than 5,700 inhabitants are targeted by an evacuation order and 32,000 people are subject to an evacuation alert.

“My new home is my vacation trailer,” says the person in charge of a district of this western province, Margo Wagner, herself evacuated.

This is the second time in four years that his home in Canim Lake, a rural area in central British Columbia, has been threatened by a fire.

On the evacuation: “We did it in 2017 and we will do it again.

Is it stressful?

Is it scary?

Absolutely, ”she said calmly.

VIDEO.

Record heat in Canada: residents flee their village, in the grip of flames

In Canada, 350 additional soldiers will be mobilized

This critical situation forced the Canadian authorities to requisition additional reinforcements to fight the fires. The Canadian armed forces are preparing to deploy 350 additional troops to British Columbia and 120 to Manitoba, a central province also struggling with large outbreaks, according to National Defense spokesman John Nethercott. In Ontario, some 75 military personnel assist local firefighters.

Other neighboring communities are preparing for the worst The weather conditions expected this week, windy and hot weather, will not give any respite to the 3,180 deployed firefighters.

"I have lived in Ashcroft for almost 25 years now and have never seen anything like it," said Mayor Barbara Roden, whose municipality in the center of the province has been on high alert since July 14.

"It is a clear reminder that climate change affects us endlessly now, whether it is a difficult forest fire season, flooding or even the dome of heat that we have experienced," argued British Columbia Premier John Horgan.

Helicopters picking up water off Osoyoos Lake to fight the new wildfire in Oliver.

#BCWildfire @cbcnewsbc @BCGovFireInfo pic.twitter.com/qB609bQX7I

- Anita Bathe (@anitabathe) July 20, 2021

In the United States, nearly 80 forest fires devastate hundreds of thousands of hectares

On the other side of the border, the United States suffered particularly intense fires in the west of the country due to an unprecedented drought.

Nearly 80 huge fires are currently devouring hundreds of thousands of hectares in several western states.

Firefighters are fighting blazes so big that they now generate their "own climate", according to experts.

The most impressive remains the “Bootleg Fire”: a gigantic braising pan that consumes everything in its path.

In two weeks, the blaze burned the equivalent of the city of Los Angeles in vegetation and forests, or nearly 1,302 km².

"The fire is so big and it creates so much energy that it has started to generate its own climate," Marcus Kauffman of the state's forest management service told AFP.

“It creates its own lightning” and “self-sustains”.

But the approximately 2,300 firefighters deployed are “up to the task” and “undoubtedly helped protect hundreds of homes” in the area, assures Ian Yocum, responsible for fire management, on Wednesday.

VIDEO.

"Bootleg fire": the blaze has already consumed the equivalent of 130,000 football fields in the Western United States

Even the eastern United States is affected with waves of smoke from forest fires in the western part of the country.

After the images Wednesday of the Statue of Liberty masked by a thick gray veil in New York, it is now the image of a red sun and a hazy sky on the east coast that invades social networks.

Several cities have had to issue an air quality alert, and even the CDC, the United States federal agency dedicated to disease control and prevention, explains the dangers of these fumes on Twitter "Smoke from forest fires can injure your eyes, irritate your respiratory system and worsen chronic heart and lung disease ”.

LOOK: Smoke from wildfires on the West Coast drifted across the US, turning the sun red and skies hazy on the East Coast pic.twitter.com/4OjtQSIrJo

- Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) July 22, 2021

In the state of California, several villages had to be evacuated in the face of escalating flames from the Dixie Fire, a blaze that may have been caused by a fall from a tree on power lines of a large Pacific electricity supplier Gas and Electric (PG&E).

This company had previously pleaded guilty to causing the deadliest fire in recent California history.

In question, faulty lines very close to where the Dixie Fire is wreaking havoc.

The company on Wednesday announced its intention to bury thousands of kilometers of power lines, starting with those located in areas prone to fires to prevent further disasters.