The fury of wildfires is being seen and felt from coast to coast to coast.
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada 鈥� and they鈥檙e still spreading in what鈥檚 being called an unprecedented fire season.
While and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
鈥淎cross the world and by almost any metric that we look at, wildfires are growing worse,鈥� Kristina Dahl, principal climate scientist for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told 麻豆影视.
鈥淭hey are burning larger areas, they're burning more severely, they're burning over a longer fire season in mountainous regions, they鈥檙e burning at higher elevations where it's typically cooler as well.鈥�
Though the factors may vary from place to place around the world, Dahl said there are some common threads for such destructive wildfires 鈥� climate change being one of them.
鈥淐limate change has been implicated in worsening wildfires across North America,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e also know that there are a lot more people living in wildfire-prone areas. And so that means that there are more people to potentially spark fires and more people affected when the fires do occur.鈥�
At a news conference Thursday, federal ministers said there are currently 211 wildfires burning in the country 鈥� 82 of which are burning out of control 鈥� and that climate change is the culprit.
鈥淚t is a simple fact that Canada is experiencing the impacts of climate change, including more frequent and more extreme wildfires,鈥� said Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.
鈥淎nd the amount of forests burned by wildfire is projected to double by 2050 due to our changing climate, causing longer and more intense wildfire seasons, more extreme weather conditions and increased drought.鈥�
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair called the conditions being reported this early in the fire season 鈥渦nprecedented.鈥� So far, more than 1,800 fires have broken out across the country this year, burning approximately 2.7 million hectares.
鈥淭o put that in some context, that鈥檚 over five million football fields,鈥� Blair said.
鈥淎nd the national average for hectares burned in the month of May over the last 10 years has averaged approximately 150,000 hectares, and so 2.7 million, I think, reflects how incredibly challenging this season has been.鈥�
Dave Phillips, a senior climatologist at Environment Canada, said there are three phenomena that are 鈥渢ruly connected鈥� to climate change 鈥� rising sea levels, heat waves and .
He said high temperatures, which are typically not seen until the summer months, are causing dry conditions and allowing forest fires to break out and some 鈥渧ery erratic鈥� winds are causing the fires to spread.
In the case of Atlantic Canada, Phillips said the by Hurricane Fiona last year have had several months to dry out, creating the perfect storm.
鈥淚t was like a proper region of kindling wood,鈥� he said in an interview with 麻豆影视.
鈥淐anada this year is really almost 鈥� a tinderbox in a lot of areas.鈥�
Some 28,000 people have already been forced to evacuate from their homes across Canada. The fires are disproportionately impacting indigenous communities, such as , but they have also surrounded urban areas.
Nearly 1,000 firefighters from the U.S., Australia and New Zealand are in the country helping to fight the fires, with crews from South Africa arriving soon. The Canadian Armed Forces are on the ground in Alberta and on their way to Nova Scotia.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e literally in a battle for our lives and for our properties and for our homes,鈥� Shaun Hatfield, an evacuee in Nova Scotia, said in an interview with 麻豆影视.
Dahl offered one solution for preventing wildfires moving forward 鈥� 鈥渞adically鈥� reducing the amount of human development in wildfire-prone areas.
鈥淭hat should reduce the human ignitions of wildfire and the fact that people spark most wildfires,鈥� she explained.
鈥淯nfortunately, it won't change the fact that we are warming and drying our climate and so making our wildfire prone areas even more (of a) fire problem.鈥�
Meanwhile, Phillips said people should be 鈥渕uch more vigilant鈥� by making sure to put out campfires and avoid starting fires in places where fire bans are in place.
鈥淲e need to care about our forested areas,鈥� he said.
For much of Canada, hot and dry weather is forecasted throughout June. And with a hotter and drier summer than normal expected ahead, Phillips said the full scope of the fire season has yet to be seen.
鈥淲e have just started the season. And if this is the opening act, then boy, we're going to see a very, very hot and flamey kind of summer ahead.鈥�
