Over 9,000 people have been evacuated in northeastern Canada because of raging wildfires. Provincial fire duty officer Jeff Motty said, ‘Residents of the towns of Labrador City and Wabush in Newfoundland and Labrador province were instructed to leave their homes’.
‘We are seeing extreme fire behaviour out there. The fire is moving about 50 meters per minute’, said Motty. Pictures shared on social media showed lines of cars waiting to fill up at gas stations as the sky was obscured by clouds of smoke.
Labrador City resident Stacy Hunt said, ‘It was quite a shock to see that much smoke and it’s been in pretty much the same place for hours now’. Residents must evacuate more than 500 kilometres (310 miles) east via the only road available. Motty said that the intensity of the fire made it impossible to use water bombers.
On Saturday morning, Labrador City’s mayor, Belinda Adams, again requested residents to evacuate. She said in a video posted on social media, ‘The fire is still active’.
On Friday, federal authorities said that the weather had been favourable for limiting fires since the start of summer. Last year, the country recorded the worst fire season in its history.
According to experts, ‘In many parts of the country, dry and hotter conditions caused by climate change have increased the risk of major fires in recent years’.
Presently, Canada is battling 575 active fires with more than 400 considered out of control. Many fires have broken out in recent days, specifically in the west of the country, that has experienced a heat wave.
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