Sawt Falasteen - Canada wildfire near Vancouver contained

Residents of British Columbia's Squamish district, which is just 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of the major city of Vancouver, had been on standby to evacuate as a blaze approached.

But British Columbia's wildfire service said over the weekend that the Squamish fire was "being held" and the community now faced a "decreased risk."

Residents of the coastal area told AFP last week that the size of the fire came as a shock.

Marc-Andre Parisien, a researcher at the Canadian Forest Service, has said that fires near the ocean like the one that had threatened Squamish were concerning as such areas have not previously seen major wildfires.

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 on Monday, with 90 of them considered out of control.

Nearly four million hectares (15,400 square miles) have already been consumed by flames, an area slightly smaller than Switzerland.

East of Squamish, in Canada's Prairies region, some 10,000 people who had been ordered to evacuate were cleared to head home as of Friday, as fire threats eased due to favorable weather conditions.

But Canadian officials have warned the country faces an increased wildfire risk through the summer, with higher than normal temperatures expected in many regions.

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.

Canada's wildfires are often started accidentally by humans, but are sometimes ignited by lightning strikes.

N.AbuHussein--SF-PST