But later in the day, Mistissini Chief Michael Petawabano said his community remains safe and asked residents to wait for instructions from Cree officials.Įastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense. The largest town in Northern Quebec - Chibougamau, population about 7,500 - was evacuated Tuesday, and Legault said the roughly 4,000 residents of the northern Cree town of Mistissini would likely have to leave Wednesday. governors and local officials about providing assistance, she said.Ĭanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter that he spoke by phone with Biden and “thanked him for all the help Americans are providing as we continue to fight these devastating wildfires.” His administration has contacted some U.S. In Washington, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. Quebec Premier François Legault said the province currently has the capacity to fight about 40 fires - and the usual reinforcements from other provinces have been strained by conflagrations in Nova Scotia and elsewhere.Ĭanadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre spokesperson Jennifer Kamau said more than 950 firefighters and other personnel have arrived from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, and more are due soon. “I put my mask away for over a year, and now I’m putting on my mask since yesterday,” the 31-year-old lamented. In Toronto, Yili Ma said her hiking plans were canceled and she was forgoing restaurant patios, a beloved Canadian summer tradition. The smoke was so thick in downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, that office towers just across the Ottawa River were barely visible. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday - which, unsettlingly, was national Clean Air Day in Canada. Smoke from the blazes in various parts of the country has been lapping into the U.S. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated very quickly, exhausting firefighting resources across the country, fire and environmental officials said. “I walked outside this morning, and it was like a waft of smoke,” said Funk.Ĭanadian officials say this is shaping up to be the nation’s worst wildfire season ever. The air hung thick over the water, obscuring the horizon. In Baltimore, Debbie Funk sported a blue surgical mask as she and husband, Jack Hughes, took their daily walk around Fort McHenry, a national monument overlooking the Patapsco River.
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