Canada wildfires: Why are firefighting helicopters shooting flames at burning forests?

By Sophia Khatsenkova
Euronews
August 22, 2023
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada

Numerous social media users are misleadingly claiming firefighters are actually escalating the more than 400 wildfires raging in British Columbia, after sharing a viral video of a helicopter spraying flammable liquid. But one video … sparked conspiracy theories these Canadian forest fires have nothing to do with climate change but have rather been purposefully started by firefighting helicopters. The clip shows a helicopter flying above a forest filled with smoke, as a torch suspended from the chopper emits flames. The next shot shows a large area of the land on fire. The footage … from June 2023 and was posted on Youtube by British Columbia’s Wildfire Service. …As counterintuitive as it may seem, it’s actually possible to fight fire with fire — it’s called a controlled burn. Due to the fact, there’s no way to spray enough water to put the wildfire out entirely, firefighters need to create a firebreak.

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