Canada official warns wildfires could potentially last 'all summer'

Canadian officials say the wildfires last week that sent a massive cloud of smoke into the U.S. and brought record-breaking pollutions to major East Coast cites could continue all summer. 

"This is a first in the history of Quebec to fight so many fires, to evacuate so many people," Francois Bonnardel, the province's minister of public security said this past weekend. "We are going to have a fight that we think will last all summer."

Already this year, nearly 17,800 square miles have reportedly burned in Canada, forcing thousands across the country to evacuate and relocate. Right now, reports show 447 active fires in Canada, with 220 of them considered to be "out of control."

More fires are expected because of drought conditions and "long-range forecasts for warm temperatures," according to the Canadian government's natural resources branch.

President Biden met Thursday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the matter and agreed to "deploy all available federal firefighting assets that can rapidly assist in suppressing fires," according to the White House.

Over 600 firefighters from the U.S. are expected to sent north of the border to assist Canada in suppressing the wildfires.