Several EU countries have offered to send almost 300 firefighters to Canada to help fight the forest fires raging there, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen announced on Wednesday.
“We stand in solidarity with Canada in the face of the terrible forest fires. Canada has asked the EU for support through the civil protection mechanism and we are responding promptly. France, Portugal and Spain have offered to send more than 280 firefighters,” she announced on Twitter. “More help will come”, she assured.
After the Canadian provinces of Alberta (West) and Nova Scotia (East), Quebec has been hit hard by historic fires and is anxiously awaiting international reinforcements.
Over 11,000 people were evacuated from their homes in Quebec, Reuters reports. The smoke from the fires is reaching the United States, shrouding cities that are over 1,300 kilometres away in smog. Due to the smoke, New York City is veiled in an orange haze, registering the worst air quality of any city in the world on Wednesday and Thursday.
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By Thursday afternoon, over 3.8 million hectares had been engulfed by flames – 15 times the average of the past decade, according to Canadian Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair.
The situation is considered exceptional by Canadian authorities in terms of the number of hectares burning at this time of year. It is also unusual for wildfires to occur simultaneously in the East and West of the country, which is making it harder for the state to supply sufficient resources.
Canada as a whole is experiencing an unprecedented year: some 2,300 forest fires have been recorded and some 3.8 million hectares have been burnt, a total well above the average for recent decades.
