TORONTO – Summer’s scorching heat has arrived in Canada, ushering in a new season of forest fires across the country.
After one of the driest winters Canada has encountered from coast to coast, heat hasn’t helped parts of northern Ontario, southeastern Manitoba and Northern Alberta where regions have already been ravaged by forest fires.
Hot spots have been identified and right now, officials are keeping a close watch on a forest fire blazing through the Northern Ontario town of Kirkland Lake.
Residents have been advised to pack enough clothing to last three days, food, medications, cash and water in case an evacuation is ordered as firefighters fight to tame a nearly 3,000 hectare blaze.
David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada, has documented the top weather stories of each year since 1996.
He walked Global News through a handful of the most notable fires he’s seen in the past decade and a half, from the fiery blazes that caused damage in the billions to the largest evacuations on record.
View Major forest fires across Canada in a larger map
Slave Lake, Alberta, 2011: On Friday, May 13, 2011, weather forecasters in the province grew concerned after they saw perfect breeding conditions for a fire storm with Slave Lake at the epicentre. With 100 kilometre winds, the fire picked up quickly, spreading across Slave Lake, destroying one-third of homes and businesses that were burnt in the 1000 C heat. It was the second costliest natural disaster in Canadian history next to the ice storm of Ottawa and Montreal in 1998. Over $1 billion in damage was the result, $700 million from insured wreckage and $400 million from uninsured property.
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British Columbia, 2010: Forest fires ravaged much of British Columbia this year, from Williams Lake to Burns Lake and over to the Fraser Lake. B.C. officials described the year as the most concentrated of forest fires in the province’s history. With that title came a hefty price tag: $230 million to fight the fires and two deaths. The fire also created poor air quality from Vancouver Island, over Alberta and into Saskatchewan as officials warned the elderly and those who have respiratory problems to stay indoors.
British Columbia, 2009: It was another big year of forest fires across B.C. when 85 per cent of the province was on high alert, cautiously avoiding camping and even watering lawns to save up on water reserves. More than 3,000 firefighters were mobilized to the province, from across Canada, the United States, Australia and even as far as New Zealand. The province shelled out $400 million – six times what was originally budgeted – to tame the fires. Water bombers, tractors, and other machinery were brought in on loan from around the world.
Halifax, 2009: Phillips calls this blaze “small potatoes” in comparison to the fiery blazes that took down whole communities in the past, but on May 1 that year, 1,200 residents were evacuated from Halifax, a dozen homes were damaged, and the city suffered through smoke problems.
Porter’s Lake, Nova Scotia, 2008: The community just northeast of Halifax put its 5,000 residents on high alert, meaning they sat, bags packed waiting for news to evacuate as a fiery blaze claimed the surrounding area.
Fort McMurray, Alberta, 2006: The province was hit with a record number of forest fires with a whopping 1,860 fires across the province. Fort McMurray took a hit – a lot of the fires were in the region.
Lillooet, B.C., 2004: The B.C. town was grappling with a region-wide evacuation notice, leaving thousands of people waiting, bags packed for a signal to leave their homes. In June and through to mid-July, fires destroyed a number of historic Native grounds, Aboriginal graves and cultural sites along Tweedsmuir Park. The winds were so strong, they blew fires from east to west, when typically they go the other way, Phillips said.
The Yukon, 2004: The Arctic territory saw twice as many fires than it normally would, including an 18,000-square-kilometre blaze that cloaked the region in dark skies and thick smoke. “It was so thick, you couldn’t land planes in Dawson City because of the heavy smoke,” Phillips said.
Kelowna, B.C., 2003: Interface fires describe blazes in the woods that threaten a community, and typically, in B.C., officials see one of those aggressive fires a year. There were six to seven “interface” fires ablaze in the beautiful B.C. city in August. About 250 homes were burnt to the ground, a third of the population was evacuated – marking the second largest evacuation in Canadian history. More than 7,600 firefighters battled the flames, including another 2,000 military officials who were called in. The fires were the worst in the Okanagan, Phillips said.
James Bay, Quebec, 2002: In July this year, fires in Quebec around James Bay and the Manicouagan reservoir created smoke plumes that travelled as far as 300 kilometres away, seeping into the south. Phillips says residents on the East Coast of Canada and even in New England could smell the smoke engulfing Quebec, calling it “one of the worst fires of the decade.” “Ash fell on cars and property, and the cinders and burnt pieces that would fall out of the sky rained down on Montreal,” he said.
Salmon Arm, B.C., 1998: The forest fires claimed more than 6,000 hectares in the B.C. town. About 7,000 people were forced to leave their homes – over half of the population – and over 40 buildings were destroyed. It cost over $10 million to extinguish this summer blaze.
Central Alberta, 1997: Winter fires that year were a first for Canada in decades, but in December, 17 forest fires were “out of control,” Phillips says.
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