Fires are a natural part of many boreal forest ecosystems, but the massive blaze raging in Alberta, Canada is a catastrophe that threatens human health, the economy and the environment. The fire has already displaced 80,000 people—the largest fire evacuation in Canada’s history—and threatens hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest.

麦克默里堡地区的当前情节在其规模，程度和人类影响方面非常出色。来自全球森林观察平台提供有关艾伯塔省森林大火的情况的背景：

1) These fires are an anomaly.

上周，卫星在麦克默里堡（Fort McMurray）周围发现了1,000多个活跃的火灾（NASA公司），这是一个位于埃德蒙顿（Edmonton）东北约80,000人的城市。迄今为止，艾伯塔省燃烧了24万公顷今年，超过所有年份的总烧伤面积过去十年除2011年和2012年外。地面上的官员报告说，大火在过去几天的大小增长了16倍，大于229,000公顷最后一个计数。专家指出了一个特别强大的厄尔尼诺之年 - 生产温暖和干燥的冬天比艾伯塔省的往常气候变化的长期影响必威官网是真的吗作为创造条件，使野火能够迅速传播。

2）该区域对于森林管理和资源提取很重要。

艾伯塔省的这一地区也因其石油和天然气活动而闻名。麦克默里堡坐在阿萨巴斯卡油砂的顶部第三大oil reserve in the world. In addition, the area around the fires includes land that has been leased for economic activity, including extraction for industrial minerals, such as sand, gravel, silica sand, salt, and limestone used for the oil sands project.

麦克默里堡（Fort McMurray）周围活动的一部分地区也属于用于提取木材提取的区域，包括由森林管理委员会认证的Alpac Forest Products Inc.。该地区的大火将继续影响依赖艾伯塔省自然资源的行业。

火灾活动扩展到森林任期和采矿许可证。

3) The fires impact最有价值的森林景观。

大约35％的活动火灾区域（78,885公顷）与完整的森林相当。这些地区位于麦克默里堡（Fort McMurray）的南部和东南部，是大型扩展，以前没有显示人类活动的迹象，这是一种森林生态系统，具有很高的保护价值。尽管这些森林中的一些会随着时间的流逝而再生，但在短期内，它们会显着影响木材价值，碳排放和动物栖息地，例如支持严重濒危的林地北美驯鹿。大火还蔓延到附近的保护区，包括省级公园。

上周的火灾活动蔓延到加拿大完整的森林。

4）风使大火更难战斗。

Weather conditions—including temperature and wind speeds—can make forest fires more difficult to contain. Authorities have sought to move evacuees south of Fort McMurray out of the direction of the fire and wind, which has reached speeds of up to 25 mph in the past week—three times higher than the五月的平均值last year. You can track the wind speed and direction in real-time on Global Forest Watch Fires, as well as view historical wind data.

麦克默里堡周围的风向和速度的实时地图。

5) Fire has already had a massive impact on communities, and will continue to affect the economy and environment.

Near-infrared images captured byDigitalGlobe’s WorldView-2 satellite on May 29, 2015 (left) and May 5, 2016. Bright red areas represent healthy forest land, while the areas burned by the fire show up as black and gray. Credit: DigitalGlobe.

目前尚不清楚人们何时能够返回家园，以及对完整森林和驯鹿栖息地等生态系统的长期影响。以及存在the biggest fire evacuation in Canada’s history，，，，the fires are also likely to be one of the costliest disasters. Some analysts are predicting lower GDP growth in the country this year as a direct result of the fires, and banks estimate that losses could reach $9 billion in insured industry damages.

您可以帮助扑灭大火。

同时，您可以通过加入数字地球仪来帮助急救人员Tomnod运动，，，，which allows anyone with an internet connection to identify and map damaged buildings or blocked roads on satellite imagery. Crowdsourcing efforts like this one can save valuable time and resources by collecting information as quickly as possible.

Wynet Smith是全球森林观察Canada，，，，an independent non-profit organization.