1.8 million hectares land burned by forest fires in Canada

Ottawa, August 30 

Canada has seen a total of 1.8 million hectares of land burned by forest fires so far this year, CTV reported.

A total of 254 forest fires were being fought and 75 others monitored in Canada as of Wednesday afternoon. More than half of those fires were in British Columbia province, said the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center on Thursday, Xinhua news agency reported.

Alberta province has seen more wildfires and lost more land to fire this year than any other province or territory. The largest of its 955 fires is the Chuckegg Creek blaze, which led to about 10,000 people being evacuated in and around High Level in the spring.

Ontario province has recorded the second-most fire-related land loss of any province, although its 270,000 hectares of fire pales in comparison to the more than 880,000 hectares burned in Alberta.

Over the past 10 years, Canada has experienced 5,670 forest fires and lost nearly 2.7 million hectares of land, according to CTV.—IANS