Wildfires in Canada: Ten thousand people had to be evacuated How the BBC can be embarrassed by Andrew Tate on camera

As wildfires spread across eastern Canada, authorities in the province of Quebec have called on more than 11,000 people to flee. The evacuation was ordered Friday in the small town of Sept Iles, among others. “This is a scary time for a lot of people from one coast to the other,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, referring to hundreds of fires in his country stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Sept Iles Mayor Steeve Beaupré declared a state of emergency for the small town on the St. Lawrence River. Rapidly spreading forest fires forced many people to leave their homes.

Stéphane Lauzon, a member of the Quebec parliament, said at a press conference in Ottawa that 10,000 people, a third of Sept Iles residents, would have to flee. About 1,000 other people were called to flee Chapais in northern Quebec.

90 out of 210 burn out of control

“The situation in Quebec is evolving rapidly,” Lauzon said. On Friday there were “many more” fires than the day before. About 20 of the 100 or so fires have gotten out of control.

There were more than 210 fires across Canada on Friday, with more than 90 of them out of control. The flames have already destroyed more than 2.7 million hectares. After the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were mainly affected in early May, firefighters had to fight fires in the province of Novia Scotia on the Atlantic coast last week.

Particularly intense forest fires due to heat wave

Due to a heat wave, the forest fires are particularly intense this year. The emergency services hope that the weather forecast for the weekend to cool down with rain will make extinguishing work easier.

Local forces are supported by nearly 1,000 firefighters from the US, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Canadian government also sent troops to Nova Scotia and Québec.

Canada has repeatedly experienced extreme weather events in recent years. Climate change increases the intensity and frequency of such events. (cst/sda/afp)