Canada: "2011 Shaping Up To Be the Year of the Forest Fire"

"With hundreds of fires scorching northern Ontario, and Alberta and Northwest Territories battling bigger blazes than usual, this is potentially shaping up as one of the nation’s most destructive wildfire years.

Forest fires have already left an indelible imprint in 2011. Flames razed or heavily damaged nearly 500 homes and businesses in the northern Alberta town of Slave Lake in May, while the threat of destruction has forced more than 3,000 people from their isolated northwestern Ontario communities."

Renata D’Aliesio reports for the Toronto Globe and Mail July 25, 2011.