Canada travel warning: Everything you need to know about travelling during wildfires

Unprecedented wildfires have been ravaging Canada’s Atlantic coast since last week.

This came after an unusually fierce start to fire season in the west of the country in May.

Nova Scotia is battling to contain its largest wildfire on record, while 10,000 residents in coastal Quebec have been forced to evacuate due to blazes on Friday.

A record 2.7 million hectares of Canadian land has been scorched so far in 2023 - more than 10 times the annual average for this time of year.

The province of Nova Scotia on Canada’s east coast has been hardest hit by wildfires in recent days. Long awaited rain over the weekend helped to bring fires under control, but some areas are still affected.

While the Tantallon fire northwest of Halifax is now under control, Shelburne County in the southwest of the province continued to burn out of control as of yesterday (4 June). Schools in the area remain closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Over 150 wildfires are burning in the province of Quebec, which authorities are struggling to bring under control. Access has been banned or limited to 13 of the state's parks.

In the coastal city of Sept-Iles, a local state of emergency was declared on Friday due to wildfires and thousands of people were evacuated. The southwest Quebec city of Val d'Or is the latest to declare a state of emergency.

Quebec City has not been affected by the wildfires and businesses remain open.

Ontario has also been heavily impacted by fires in recent days, with Toronto considered under extreme risk of forest fires last week.

Since early May, Alberta and British Columbia (BC) in western Canada have also been battling major blazes, leading to deployment of the armed forces. Travel warnings have been issued in parts of BC.

In Vancouver, the ‘very