A 19-year-old firefighter has died fighting a wildfire in Canada. The young woman was “trapped under a fallen tree” while creating a lane in the forest, Canadian police said on Friday. She was rescued by colleagues and taken to a hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries. The young woman is the first victim of the forest fires that last for weeks.
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According to the union responsible, the 19-year-old died near the city of Revelstoke, in the western province of British Columbia. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his dismay and thanked the firefighters for their courage. “We must never forget the risks these heroes take every time they are in danger,” Trudeau wrote on Twitter.
According to official information, more than 900 fires broke out in Canada on Friday. Around 560 of them were therefore out of control. 9.7 million hectares have already gone up in smoke – eleven times the average for the past decade. The absolute annual record of 1989 has now been surpassed by far.
British Columbia recently ordered further evacuations because of the fires and requested support from another 1,000 firefighters from abroad. Northern Québec, in the east of the country, is also affected. So far there is no prospect of improvement: The weather will remain hot and dry for the foreseeable future, said Sarah Budd of the British Columbia Fire Department.