Canada began its fire season on June 9, 2023 and Canadian authorities have warned that the situation will remain serious throughout the summer and into the fall. This may be the worst wildfire season on record in Canada, Canadian state officials warn.

So much so that smoke from these fires has covered a large area of ​​eastern North America and is wreaking havoc in cities like New York.

Beginning in March 2023, and more intensely beginning in June, Canada has been affected by a series of ongoing and unprecedented wildfires. All 13 provinces and territories have been affected, with major fires in Alberta, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec.

And with so many fires, local resources for extinguishing them have been exhausted. For this reason, firefighters from France and the United States have had to be called upon to help with the extinguishing efforts.

Quebec has never seen wildfires of this scale, which more typically occur in parts of western Canada such as Alberta and British Columbia. Across the country, more than 20,000 people have had to be evacuated from their homes, 15,000 of them in Quebec.

The situation remains worrying in several regions, explained Stephane Caron, from the Society for the Protection of Forests against Fire, SOPFEU in its French acronym. “We are only at the beginning of this fire season. We are now entering the period when there are usually larger fires starting to happen in Quebec,” he said