Canada wildfires: blazes intensifying due to climate crisis, says Kamala Harris; Trudeau accuses opposition of inaction – live | Wildfires

With Canada currently fighting hundreds of wildfires in multiple provinces, the Guardian took a look at the small village of Lytton in British Columbia which in 2021 broke Canada’s highest temperature ever at 49.6C.

Two days after the temperature skyrocketed to nearly 50C, a wildfire scorched the entire village.

Here is the documentary the Guardian produced on Lytton and how its residents have been relying on a collective spirit to heal:

Here is footage of the wildfires currently raging across British Columbia, Canada:

With hundreds of forest fires spreading uncontrollably across the country, 3.8m hectares (or 9.4m acres) have already been burned, according to government ministers.

New York City’s health advisory has been extended until 11.59pm on Friday, 9 June, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Thursday.

“Please continue to limit your outdoor activities and mask up,” he said.

Massachusetts Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren has also chimed in on the climate change discussion as smoke from Canada’s wildfires continue to spread across the US.

“Extreme weather. Drought. Massive wildfires that destroy our air quality. Evidence of a climate crisis is all around us and Northeasterners can look no further than out their own windows to find it,” Warren tweeted.
“We need to address this crisis head-on—there’s no more time to waste,” she added.

New Yorkers appeared to poke fun at the apocalyptic aesthetic that has engulfed the city in a dense yellow as a result of smoke drifting from Canada’s wildfires.

In one video posted onto Twitter, one resident appeared to carry a speaker blasting the soundtrack of Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 movie Dune, a science fiction epic set in a galactic desert.

“I’d think it was the end of the world if I didn’t know abt dune,” one person replied.

Another person wrote, “certified dune moment in New York rn.”

New pictures are coming through on the newswires of the wildfires currently burning across Canada’s multiple provinces including Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec:

Mark Fischer, 58, an IT project manager from Royersford, Pennsylvania has shared with the Guardian the ways that the smokey haze has affected him.

Fischer wrote:

“I’ve been fairly lucky that I’ve been able to stay in the house since yesterday, apart from feeding the birds and taking out the trash. I’ve only been outside for minutes at a time, but it was enough to irritate my eyes this morning. Not my breathing so much, because I kind of held my breath. I didn’t want to risk it.
“I’ve remained inside since yesterday. I’m thankful we still have electricity and gas. This morning the sky had a surreal light salmon color, not as dramatic as the burnt orange from yesterday’s NYC photos. But the sun is breaking through now.”

We’d like to continue hearing from our readers in Canada and the US about the impact of wildfires and smoke. Please feel free to share your story below:

Mary Yang is speaking to protesters in DC who oppose the Mountain Valley pipeline:

Protesters outside the White House said the wildfires are an example of why dirty energy projects must not go ahead.

Demonstrators said they were especially disappointed in Biden, who last week signed into law the Fiscal Responsibility Act to avert a first ever national default in a deal that included fast tracking the controversial pipeline.

“I feel like he stabbed us in the back, said Don Jones, who has lived in Southwest Virginia for 65 years and was sued by the company for refusing to allow construction on his family’s land.

Jones and his wife have been “fighting” against the pipeline since 2015, when they say construction began on their farmland in Giles County, Virginia. While no longer in use, the land has been in his family for seven generations, and Jones said he feels a need to protect it.

Jones, who voted for Biden in 2020, said he no longer trusts the president and wouldn’t vote for him again. “Unless he fixes this.”

“It might be rural country, Appalachia, dirt people, whatever they might think of us,” Jones said. “But there are some pretty smart people. They’ve worked the land, they respect the land, they’re stewards of it.”

Jones said the pipeline, which is set to cross streams and rivers, will harm access to clean water.

“It’s in the ground,“ said Jones, of the pipeline. “But We’re hoping gas will never be able to fill it.”

“We have to fight for the water,” Yvette Jones, his wife of 38 years, added. “If you don’t have water, you don’t have life.”

Pipeline protest begins outside White House

US president Joe Biden announced that he has dictated a national inter-agency fire center response to Canada’s request for further assistance in fighting its wildfires.

“I’ve dictated a national inter-agency fire center response to Canada’s request for additional fire fighters and the fire suppression assets such as air tankers. We already have 600 American firefighters on the ground,” he told reporters on Thursday.

Biden said that he will also send “fire suppression assets, such as air tankers” to help fight the wildfires.

New York Republican representative Marc Molinaro told Fox News that it is too soon to start “lecturing” about climate change as the smoke from the wildfires continue to shroud numerous east coast states.

Speaking on Fox and Friends, Molinaro said, “There is little question that Canada needs to obviously focus on forest management but this isn’t the moment to start lecturing people about the science of climate change. Right now it’s about putting out a fire and keeping people safe.”

A Code Purple air quality alert has been issued for Washington DC on Thursday.

Code purple means that all groups should stay indoors for as much as possible and that those that must work outside should reduce their work if possible and also wear a high-quality mask such as an N95 or N95.

Here is a satellite image depicting plumes of wildfire across North America:

“Weather satellite data showed the plume travelling in a South-Easterly direction on the 6^th and 7^th of June. On the 7^th, thunderstorms along the US Eastern Seaboard lofted smoke and gas into the stratosphere, while on the 8^th the smoke itself prevented clouds from forming – meaning that New York has a cloudless day even though visibility was extremely poor,” write Simon Proud, a scientist affiliated with the UK’s National Centre for Earth Observation.

US vice-president Kamala Harris: fires intensifying because of climate crisis

Speaking to reporters yesterday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the wildfires burning across Canada and the smoke spreading into the US is “yet another alarming example of the ways in which the climate crisis is disturbing our lives and our communities.”

US saw record toxic air pollution from wildfire smoke in recent history

Oliver Milman

US Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib has called on Michigan residents to check on each other as Michigan continues to be shrouded in a thick layer of smoke.

“Thinking about all of our children and residents living with asthma + respiratory illnesses. This is so dangerous for them & all of our communities who already live with poor air quality. This is going to make it worse. Please take time today and check in on your neighbors,” she tweeted.

On Wednesday morning, Detroit ranked second in the world for worst air quality, according to IQ air quality index.

On Thursday morning, Detroit ranked 12th, with New York coming in at number one.

Tlaib went on to tweet, “None of us should have to fight to breathe clean air. It’s our right,” adding that last week’s debt ceiling deal which reduces environmental protections “makes this worse.”