Officials Warn Wildfires in Canada Could ‘Last All Summer’

A woman walks her dog along the Ottawa River in Ottawa as smoke from wildfires obscures Gatineau, Que., in the distance on June 6, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

Officials in Canada warned that wildfire smoke could again inundate parts of the United States after thick reddish smoke engulfed New York City and other parts of the northeastern U.S. last week.

Smoke from wildfires burning in Quebec, Canada, is still impacting several major U.S. cities, including New York City, on Monday. An air quality monitoring index shows that New York City is seeing “moderate” air pollution as of Monday afternoon.

On Saturday, Quebec Minister of Public Security Francois Bonnardel said that the fires in northwestern and central Quebec are challenging. Firefighters have made progress against the blazes, he said, reported AFP.

“This is a first in the history of Quebec to fight so many fires, to evacuate so many people,” Bonnardel said, according to reports. “We are going to have a fight that we think will last all summer ... we haven’t yet won the battle,” he also said.

Canadian officials last week had asked other countries for additional help fighting more than 400 blazes nationwide that already have displaced 20,000 people. Air with hazardous levels of pollution extended into the New York metropolitan area, central New York state, and parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Massive swaths of unhealthy air extended as far as North Carolina and Indiana, affecting millions of people.

Smoke billows upwards from a planned ignition by firefighters tackling the Donnie Creek Complex wildfire south of Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada, on June 3, 2023. Wildfire Service/Reuters

Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre spokesperson Jennifer Kamau said more than 950 firefighters and other personnel have arrived from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, and more are due soon.

Last week, the largest town in Northern Quebec, Chibougamau, was evacuated. Eastern 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.

While some corporate media outlets and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have claimed that the fires were caused by climate change or global warming, some have noted that El Niño—which can bring drier conditions to the northern part of the North American continent—could be to blame.

“No, El Niño and La Niña are naturally occurring climate patterns and humans have no direct ability to influence their onset, intensity or duration,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has said on its website.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.