Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: BC WILDFIRE SERVICE / ANADOLU AGENCY / ANADOLU AGENCY VIA AFP 17:54 p.m., July 15, 2023

According to government data released on Saturday, more than 10 million hectares have burned this year in Canada, a figure far higher than anything the country has ever seen and will continue to rise in the coming weeks. The previous all-time record for area burned was 1989.7 million hectares in 3.

More than 10 million hectares have burned this year in Canada, a figure far higher than anything the country has ever seen and will continue to rise in the coming weeks, according to government data released Saturday. The previous all-time record for area burned was 1989.7 million hectares in 3, according to national figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).

4,088 fires since January

In total, the country has counted 4,088 fires since January, including many blazes reaching hundreds of thousands of hectares. More than 150,000 people had to be displaced. The scale of the fires and their multitude force the authorities not to intervene and therefore to let the majority of them burn. It is mainly the boreal forest that goes up in smoke, far from inhabited areas. But with serious consequences for the environment. "We find ourselves this year with figures that are worse than our most pessimistic scenarios," Yan Boulanger, a researcher for the Canadian Ministry of Natural Resources, told AFP. "What is completely crazy is that there has been no respite since the beginning of May," says the forest fire specialist.

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On Saturday, 906 fires were active in the country including 570 considered out of control. No province is spared. At the beginning of the season, in May, it was Alberta in the West that focused all the worries by being confronted very quickly with an unprecedented situation. A few weeks later, Nova Scotia, an Atlantic province with a very mild climate, and especially Quebec were caught in megafires. And since the beginning of July, it is in British Columbia that the situation has taken a dramatic turn with more than 250 fires in three days last week, triggered mainly by lightning. Much of Canada is experiencing severe drought with precipitation well below average for months and warm temperatures.

Canada, which is warming faster than the rest of the planet because of its geographic location, has been confronted in recent years with extreme weather events whose intensity and frequency are increased by climate change.