Canada was battling more than 400 active fires on Tuesday, with the most in the province of Quebec. Portugal, France and Spain send firefighters and other agents to help.
Portugal is ready to send 100 to 120 elements from various forces, from firefighters to INEM, to help fight the “historic” fires that have ravaged Canada for several days.
The endorsement was given by the Minister of the Interior Administration, José Luís Carneiro, hours after the European Commission officially announced that Portugal, Spain and France would send a total of 280 firefighters under the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
According to information transmitted by Carneiro to journalists, this Thursday, in the “next hours or the next few days” the agents will be ready, coming from various bodies —firefighters, INEM, ICNF, special civil protection force or emergency protection and relief —. move to Canada. They will probably travel alone, with transportation and logistics costs covered by the country, but working in conjunction with France and Spain.
Also this Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the arrival of “hundreds of American firefighters” to fight the forest fires, whose smoke has already reached the east coast of the United States.
In a message posted Wednesday, Trudeau said more American firefighters are “on the way” to Canada and said he had spoken to US President Joe Biden on the phone.
“I thank you for all the help that the Americans are providing as we continue to fight these devastating forest fires,” added the head of the Canadian government, on the social network Twitter.
In a statement released Wednesday, the White House confirmed that Biden had offered to help Canada fight “devastating and historic” wildfires.
“The President has directed his team to use all federal firefighting resources that can help quickly extinguish wildfires affecting Canadian and North American communities,” the statement said.
In addition to Canadian cities, parts of the United States, including New York, went on air pollution alert Wednesday, prompting schools to shut down outdoor sports and recess.
Canada was battling more than 400 active fires on Tuesday, with the most in the province of Quebec. The country registered 2,293 forest fires this year and around 3.8 million hectares burned, above the average of the last decades.
Quebec Prime Minister François Legault announced Monday that the province was expecting the arrival of 200 firefighters specialized in fighting forest fires from France and the United States and that it was in talks with other countries, such as Costa Rica and Chile, to send more. staff if necessary.
Legault recommended that the inhabitants of the province close the windows and avoid outdoor physical activities, especially people with respiratory problems.
Justin Trudeau pointed to climate change as the reason for the increase in the number of large fires, which “are affecting daily routines, lives and livelihoods, and the quality of our air.”
“We will continue to work, here at home and with partners around the world, to address climate change and address its impacts,” Trudeau promised.
The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, also took to social media to remind us that “half of humanity is in the danger zone of forest fires and other extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts and extreme storms”.
“With rising global temperatures, the need to quickly reduce the risk of wildfires is more critical than ever. We are running out of time to make peace with nature, but we cannot give up”, concluded the Portuguese.
Source: Observadora
