In recent weeks, emergency services in Canada have been battling hundreds of wildfires across the country.
A number of provinces have been impacted including British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba.
It’s thought that more than 30,000 people living close to the affected areas have been moved to safety.
The wildfires have also caused poor air quality and visibility in neighbouring America and smoke has been seen as far away as Europe.
What’s the latest?
A helicopter drops water on a wildfire in Canada.Image source, Reuters
More than 200 fires are currently burning in the country, with over 80 of them considered out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
The majority of those fires have been reported in British Columbia, on Canada’s west coast.
Officials have said that continued hot and dry conditions throughout the province have resulted in an increase in wildfires.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney, announced that he would be sending the military to assist the emergency services move local residents and help fight fires.
Around 30,000 people across the country are thought to have been evacuated so far this year.
The fires have also affected the air quality in parts of Canada and the United States.
Smoke from the wildfires has even reached as far away as Europe.
Experts say that most of the ongoing fires this year have been caused by human activity – often accidental – such as campfires which haven’t been put out properly or the passing of vehicles in extremely dry areas.
Another reason has been an increase in so-called ‘zombie fires’.
What is a zombie fire?
Zombie fires happen as a result of wildfires.
They’re called zombie fires as they seem to come back from the dead.
After a wildfire has been extinguished on the surface, some of it can still burn below ground in secret.
These fires can continue to burn all through winter, hidden under a layer of snow, and in spring as the temperature rises, the snow melts and the soil dries out, the wildfires can re-ignite and spread once again.
From: bbc.com
