Report by Prashasti Kulkarni
Canada, a country located in the North American continent, has been experiencing wildfires for the past few weeks in the provinces of Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, etc. Out of these, Quebec has suffered the worst impact.
As of this year, there have been around 2,700 wildfires across Canada.
These wildfires are very harmful for the environment, not only because they bring damage to most land and property, but also because the smoke produced from these flames greatly impacts the environment’s air quality index in a negative manner.
As of June 2023, around 200 buildings and almost 4 million acres of land in Canada have been damaged.
Apart from this, the air quality index of the affected regions has severely suffered as well. The smoke from the fires has spread to the U.S. and added to the pollution there. This smoke is very harmful for the citizens and animals living there as it makes it tough for them to see and can also cause breathing problems.
Firefighters from not only Canada, but the U.S., Australia, and Europe have tried to help with these fires, but they cannot get to all of them, and some are deemed uncontrollable. The evacuation measures have led to nearly 120,000 citizens temporarily displaced from their homes and almost 26,000 are under evacuation warnings.
How do wildfires start?
Usually, wildfires can start in two ways: naturally or by human activity. In the U.S., humans are the cause of almost 3/4th of wildfires, but they don’t start these fires intentionally. These fires are lit because of reasons like unattended campfires, fireworks, vehicle fuels, etc. Naturally, fires start by lightning or really warm weather.
In the case of the Canadian wildfires of 2023, most of the fires were started by lightning, which then spread into raging flames because of windy weather. The rest of the fires are suspected to be caused by human activity.
Air Quality Index
The air quality index determines the amount of air pollution at a particular place. It is measured on a scale ranging from 1-200, 200 being the unhealthiest.
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