Canada Wildfires: Military Is Brought In to Battle Blazes

With wildfires forcing evacuations from Vancouver Island on the Pacific Coast to Newfoundland in the North Atlantic, Canadian officials were mustering additional resources on Thursday to help provinces cope with the blazes and the disruption.

Eleanor Olszewski, Canada’s emergency management minister, announced on social media Thursday morning that the armed forces and the Coast Guard would assist the island province of Newfoundland in fighting blazes. Three out-of-control fires forced the evacuation of 900 people in the province on Thursday.

Some provinces have moved this week to limit activities like hiking that could spark additional blazes, with forecasts indicating it is unlikely that sufficient rain would fall in regions plagued by out-of-control fires.

Canada’s national fire threat level has been at 5, the highest danger rating, since late May. About 7.1 million hectares, or 27,000 square miles, of forest have burned so far this season in the country, spreading smoke through parts of Ontario and Quebec, the most populous provinces, and down into the eastern United States, although not with the same intensity as two years ago.

There are 725 active wildfires in Canada, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center, the national firefighting coordinating body.

“Twenty twenty-five seems to be the second-highest number of hectares burned after 2023,” Awa Cissé, a spokeswoman for the center, said on Thursday.

The extent of this year’s fires, she added, has overwhelmed Canada’s fire fighting capability. “Domestic resources are maxed out,” Ms. Cissé said. “We’ve asked for help from our international partners.”

Scientists have shown that warming global temperatures have greatly increased the chances of extreme fire weather, with more frequent and more intense wildfires as a result.

The largest current wildfire in Canada is in Saskatchewan, Manitoba’s neighbor to the west, Ms. Cissé said.

One out-of-control fire causing particular concern is burning about 50 kilometers, or 30 miles, northwest of Nanaimo, British Columbia, the second-largest city on Vancouver Island. After evacuations were ordered, about 110 households were allowed to return on Wednesday night, leaving 294 homes under evacuation orders.

Officials say it appears that no one who returned stayed overnight in the area, which is enveloped in heavy smoke.

On Tuesday, Tim Houston, the premier of Nova Scotia, announced a ban on hiking, fishing and the use of motorcycles and all terrain vehicles on public forest lands. Private landowners are barred from taking guests onto forested property. Mining and logging companies also face restrictions.

Little relief seems likely soon for western Canada, said Brian Proctor, who works with Environment Canada, the federal weather forecasting department.

There is some rain in the forecast, but not enough to have an effect.

“We could see some rain in Manitoba, where we have the most wildfires burning, and in Saskatchewan,” Mr. Proctor said. “I don’t think it’s going to be enough to address the concern.”

Earlier this week, thick wildfire smoke spurred air-quality advisories in the northeastern United States, as well as in Ontario and Quebec.

“You could smell the smoke,” said Jillian Goodin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Green Bay, Wis. “It had that campfire smell.”

On Thursday, the conditions were improving, with the smoke more dispersed and higher in the atmosphere than at the earth’s surface.

“It’s not at an unhealthy level.” said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center. Mr. Hurley said the winds were starting to shift southwesterly and would push the smoke into Quebec.

An unusually active fire season in Quebec was responsible for much of the heavy smoke that made its way south through Toronto and Montreal and down to the eastern United States in 2023. But this year, Quebec is among the provinces least affected by wildfires.

Ms. Cissé said that, unlike western Canada, where wildfires are usually caused by lightning, people are behind most of Quebec’s blazes this season. She attributed some of the province’s drop in fires to an extensive advertising campaign begun last year by the provincial government.