MONTREAL: More than 1,000 residents of Canada’s vast and remote far north are under evacuation orders as forest fires rage in the drought-struck region.
Canada is undergoing its second worst fire season in recent memory, with 8.3 million hectares (20.5 million acres) of forest — an area the size of Austria — scorched thus far.
Fires are now threatening the towns of Fort Providence and Whati in the Northwest Territories, prompting the first evacuations this year in the enormous area, where some land and large islands straddle the Arctic Circle.
Fire seasons have been longer than usual since 2022, said Mike Westwick, manager of wildfire prevention and mitigation for the territory.
“It’s stressful, mentally on people, it’s stressful, physically on workers and people who may need to move locations and be away from home,” he told AFP.
