Canada’s wildfire season is on track to be its second-largest in at least the last two decades, federal officials said Wednesday, behind last year’s record-breaking season.
Authorities say above-average temperatures and drought continue to fuel fires across Canada, with 5.3 million hectares having burned so far, but caution that this figure is preliminary.
Besides last year’s roughly 15 million hectares, there have been only three seasons in which the total amount burned exceeded 5 million hectares, the last of which was in 1995, according to federal records.
“A year of fires”
Yann Boulanger, a research scientist with Natural Resources Canada, said climate change is contributing to wildfire season starting earlier and ending later, making fires a year-round phenomenon.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that we need to move away from viewing wildfires as simply a seasonal event and move towards a continuous fire year concept,” he said in an update on Wednesday.
Boulanger said several years in the past decade saw the amount of land burned exceed the 25-year average, due in large part to extreme fire conditions and longer fire seasons driven by climate change.
As expected, Western Canada has been the hardest hit this year, with about 70 per cent of the total area burned in British Columbia, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan, officials say, and fires continue to burn in those areas as well.
Warm, dry weather is forecast to continue for at least the next month, particularly in border areas of British Columbia, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, which could lead to continued fire activity well into winter.
“We have to remain vigilant against starting fires all year round,” Boulanger said.
Officials said all 792 international firefighters who helped fight the blazes throughout the year have returned home.
