Fires in Canada: Smoke reaches Europe

Massive fires that have ravaged Canada’s forests in recent months have produced huge smoke and worsened air quality. Clouds are now covering parts of France.

Hundreds of fires are consuming vast swaths of Canada’s forests. Since the beginning of the year, 7.5 million hectares have been shrouded in smoke, creating thick fog in major cities such as Montreal and New York, making the air quickly unbreathable for more than 100 million Americans.

fire out of control

There are 80 fires in the Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ) and 35 in the Northern Zone (NZ),” Sopfew said on his Facebook page. 29 of his cases are believed to be out of control, or increasing. Ongoing fires cover him 1,224,568 hectares (ha) within his IPZ and in New Zealand he occupies 1,355,251 hectares. (…) Especially in western Quebec, the smoke is widespread, making it difficult for tankers and helicopters to intervene. It’s been like this for the past few days. When it rains, some of the smoke should disappear.

A huge amount of resources are deployed

1,457 Canadian firefighters and military personnel are on the front line to fight the fire, leading 21 “water trucks”, 84 helicopters and 16 observation planes. Canadians have received reinforcements from France (100 firefighters mobilized and 119 new firefighters to be reinforced from this Wednesday, June 28), the United States, Spain, Portugal and South Korea.
Yet the fire continues to spread and plumes of smoke travel across the Atlantic Ocean. Fine particles in smoke reach France, meteo franceair pollution – monitored by European countries. Copernicus Air Service (CAMS) and atmo franceIn particular, it should not cause trouble for the public.
Europeans should not be bothered.
Expected rain in the next few days will help slow the progress of the fires.