Canada’s wildfire emergency worsened last week with homes destroyed and almost 20,000 residents evacuated in the country’s eastern province of Nova Scotia amid an active and early start to the wildfire season. 

At least 150 homes and a number of other structures have been destroyed by fires in the province and the Canadian Government last week authorised the armed forces to provide assistance. 

“The numbers are really breathtaking,” Premier Tim Houston told a media briefing on Thursday. “Our province is experiencing tremendous trauma. It’s an incredibly difficult time for Nova Scotians.” 

Firefighting efforts were helped by the arrival of rainy weather over the weekend, but Mr Houston said in an update that the situation remained very serious. 

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre says there are 401 fires burning across the country, with 245 out of control. Alberta and British Columbia were among areas affected last month, while most recently new fires have broken out in Ontario and Quebec. 

International firefighting assistance has come from countries including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the US. 

Aon says the year-to-date wildfire extent of nearly 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) affected is highly above Canada’s 10-year average of 241,300 hectares (596,300 acres) as of June 2, according to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. 

Several years have seen higher total burned areas recorded, but the majority of the affected area was burned in summer. 

“This year spring wildfire season is the worst on record as for burned area for most of the provinces,” it says in a weekly cat report. “This year total extent might potentially become one of the highest on record.” 

The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) said last week it had deployed its Community Assistance Mobile Pavilion, with fires resulting in the loss of multiple properties in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 

IBC has also highlighted that Environment Canada is predicting that weather conditions in June through August will create an above-average risk in Ontario, where the wildfire season extends until October 31. 

Canada’s worst year on record for insurance losses was 2016, when the Fort McMurray, Alberta fire was the largest contributor to total losses of $C5.96 billion ($6.72 billion).