Evacuations spread across Canada Friday as wildfires destroyed buildings, shrouded population centres in smoke and pushed the number of active fires nationwide to 895.
Fires stretched from the Atlantic provinces to British Columbia. In northern Ontario, residents fled as flames destroyed buildings and smoke blanketed much of the province. Evacuations remained in effect near a fire complex outside Boston Bar, B.C., while people around Jacket Lake, N.S., were asked to leave because of an out-of-control wildfire.
Two people were found dead this week in La Ronge, Sask. The Saskatchewan Ministry of Community Safety believes their deaths were wildfire related.
Smoke reached southern Ontario, where Toronto’s air quality ranked among the world’s worst this week. Environment Canada issued alerts warning of heavy smoke’s potential health effects.
Officials logged 30 new active wildfires Friday: nine human-caused, 15 natural and six of undetermined origin. The total increased from 858 Thursday.
Friday morning, officials classified 126 fires as out of control, 28 as being held and 70 as under control. They were monitoring 571, while 100 required a modified response. Nearly 2.8 million hectares have been affected.
Canada remains below the fire activity of 2023, its worst and most destructive season. On July 17, 2023, 1,084 fires were active and more than 10 million hectares had been affected since the year began. On July 17, 2021, the country had 1,003 fires.
