The smoke from wildfires in Quebec are having surprising, far-reaching consequences. LaGuardia International Airport in New York just halted all flights. Outdoor recess has been canceled by public schools all across the Northeastern states. The skies in some parts of the northeast a semi-apocalyptic hazy orange, and serious air quality warnings being issued all over the northeast and mid-Atlantic.
Yesterday the National Weather Service warned, “raging wildfires in Quebec are generating large smoke plumes to the north and ALL of the smoke is being funneled right into the Northeast. Unfortunately, more smoke is on the way for tonight and Wednesday.”
Why are the wildfires in Quebec so bad? Blame “a perfect storm of meteorological conditions” and the limited resources for forest fire fighting in that region.
Because the province only has the resources to tackle roughly 30 forest fires at a time, more than 100 of the fires are burning out of control. Fires are prioritized based on their proximity to communities and to crucial infrastructure like Hydro-Québec power lines and bridges.
“It is historical,” said Karine Pelletier, a spokesperson for the Société de protection des forêts contre le feu (SOPFEU), responsible for forest fires in the province. “We have never seen that number of fires at the same time.”
The number is due to “all the ingredients being there simultaneously,” she said. “Very low humidity, no rain, strong winds and many thunderstorms and lightning strikes.”
It is probably also worth noting that the Canadian Forest Service states that some fires have to burn to preserve the overall health of the forest.
Wildland fires present a challenge for forest management because they have the potential to be at once harmful and beneficial. They can threaten communities and destroy vast amounts of timber resources, resulting in costly losses.
However, wildland fires are a natural part of the forest ecosystem and important in many parts of Canada for maintaining the health and diversity of the forest. In this way, prescribed fires offer a valuable resource management tool for enhancing ecological conditions and eliminating excessive fuel build-up.
Not all wildland fires should (or can) be controlled. Forest agencies work to harness the force of natural fire to take advantage of its ecological benefits while at the same time limiting its potential damage and costs.
This makes fire control strategies a vital component of forest management and emergency management in Canada.
But even if the Canadian government wanted to put out all of the fires as quickly as they could, they not only lack the resources, but would face significant challenges getting the resources to the fires. There aren’t always roads leading to where those forest fires are burning, and the number of firefighting aircraft is limited. About the only good news is that more resources are gradually arriving to attempt to contain the fires.
Quebec has 11 working aircrafts out of 13, and Yellowknife is lending the province two of its aircrafts while Nova Scotia sent out four. Reinforcements from New Brunswick and France are on the way, said Legault, with plans to add more from Mexico, Spain, Portugal and the United States. If all goes to plan, 1,200 employees would be on the ground fighting the fires, said Legault.
But, because fires are burning across the country, getting help from other provinces may prove tricky, he said. Newfoundland and Labrador has already taken back two of the aircraft it had lent to Quebec.
As of noon Wednesday, 149 fires were blazing in the province, most of them out of control.