SQUAMISH, Canada, June 11, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Residents of a town near 
Vancouver were on stand-by to evacuate Wednesday as Canada's devastating 
wildfire season worsened, with officials warning weather conditions through 
the summer were ripe for further blazes. 

A state of emergency has been declared in Squamish, British Columbia, just 64 
kilometres (40 miles) north of Vancouver, a city where the greater 
metropolitan area population exceeds three million. 

British Columbia's emergency management department warned in a late Tuesday 
post on X that some residents of Squamish district "must be ready to leave on 
short notice."

Max Whittenburg, a 19-year-old Squamish resident, told AFP he was "in shock" 
to see the fire encroach so close to the community. 

"I've never seen a fire in Squamish, at all, ever," the skateboard coach 
said. 

"We've already prepared most of the stuff in our house just in case we do 
have to evacuate," he added. "We'll be ready to go."

Luke Procter, also 19, said he was staying up late and rising early to 
prepare, including by helping his father "hook up the trailer to our jeep 
just in case we need to go."

Marc-Andre Parisien, a researcher at the Canadian Forest Service, said fires 
near the coast like the one threatening Squamish are particularly worrying 
because "these are areas that did not traditionally burn."

They remain less intense than fires further inland, but "we have more and 
more of them," he told AFP. 

Two years after a historically devastating summer, Canada is once again 
facing a massive fire season, with burned areas already exceeding year-to-
date averages from recent years. 

More than 220 active fires were burning across the country Tuesday, with half 
of them considered out of control. 

More than 3.3 million hectares (12,700 square miles) have already been 
consumed by flames -- an area equivalent to the country of Belgium.

Smoke from Canadian fires has reached Europe after drifting across the 
Atlantic Ocean. 

- Increased risk -

In recent years, Canada has experienced warming at least twice as fast as the 
rest of the globe.

Linked to human-induced climate change, rising temperatures lead to reduced 
snow, shorter and milder winters, and earlier summer conditions that promote 
fires, experts say.

Environment Canada forecast this week that much of Canada was likely to see 
higher than normal temperatures throughout the summer.

That, combined with dry spring conditions in several areas, "could increase 
the risk of wildfires in the coming months," Environment Canada said. 

Two provinces in central Canada -- Saskatchewan and Manitoba -- were hard-hit 
with rough starts to fire season, and had to declare a state of emergency at 
the end of May. 

Mega wildfires are now burning in western Alberta and British Columbia, as 
well as in northern Ontario, the country's most populous province. 

Now, more than a dozen new fires are detected daily across Canada -- often 
started accidentally by humans, but sometimes ignited by lightning strikes.