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Although the rains fell in the areas where the fires broke out in the forests of Canada, they did not extinguish the fires as they are still burning and there are more than 500 active fires across the country.
And as the fires continue, the rising smoke causes air pollution, affecting more than 100 million people in the United States, and ten different countries sent firefighting cadres to help Canada reduce the fires that had reached a stage out of control, while residents of some towns were evacuated.
The continuation of the fires prompted scientists to issue warnings of climate change that could turn wildfires into “pillars of toxic smoke”, which may become more frequent.
On Friday, air quality in cities such as New York and Philadelphia was considered unhealthy, according to the government platform “Air Now”, which evaluates air quality in the country, according to Sky News.
And the Canadian authorities in some regions reached the conclusion that they were allowed to continue without taking measures to limit them, which prompted some to ask about these reasons?
According to a report published by CNN, the Canadian authorities stopped the firefighting efforts for several reasons, most notably:
Remote areas
The Canadian authorities have issued instructions to all local authorities to deal with and extinguish fires, but some of them have reached the “out of control” stage, especially in remote areas, as is happening now in northwestern Quebec.
And the local authorities in northwestern Quebec believe that the priority should not be focused on extinguishing fires as much as protecting lives, property and infrastructure, especially due to the availability of limited resources and a huge fire out of control, according to what the Canadian environmental scientist, Robert Gray, told CNN. “.
He noted that the idea of massive fires raging across millions of hectares of forest land “may seem unjustified, but it is not entirely new.”
Daniel Perax, a fire scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, said, “There are always fires that firefighters aren’t fighting.”
“Sometimes doing so is costly, environmentally undesirable, and in vain with nature,” he added, stressing that “smoke is a problem, but even if we want to do anything, it may not be clear how to do it.”
Insufficient resources
Ten countries have sent firefighters to help Canadian authorities extinguish wildfires that have been burning for weeks, while environmentalist Gray said that “Canada does not have many resources to fight the fires.”
He explained that some provinces have “private contracts, but they have attracted thousands of people from outside the country to help.” Gray stated that the most important factor influencing the management of firefighting resources is “control of finance”.
Insufficient prevention
The report stressed the need to work to reduce “the chances of forest fires breaking out in the future, which may end in disaster.”
To deal with this matter, the fire prevention system must be strengthened to become more effective, through fires that are deliberately ignited in forests in a controlled manner to reduce risks.
Gray explains that “Canada does not carry out arson operations sufficiently, as it burns about 10 thousand hectares annually, in British Columbia,” which is less than what New Jersey burns, for example.
Climate change
Experts assert that climate change increases the condition of fires for the worse, and although they are necessary for the Earth’s vital ecosystem, as they help in the growth of plants and the removal of decomposing materials, even forests have evolved in the presence of a fire environment around them.
The Nature Conservancy points out that “fire is an essential process for maintaining biodiversity” in forests.
Natural fires have been around for ages, but climate change is making them more frequent and more difficult to control.