Canada is no stranger to forest fires. In fact, according to the National Forestry Database, more than 8,000 wildfires blaze in the country annually, resulting in about 5 million acres (more than 2.1 million hectares) of burned area.
To put that into perspective, reports state that one-third of Canada’s forests, which accounts for around 10% of the world’s forests, have been devastated by wildfires in the last four decades.
According to a report by Globalnews.ca, forest fires typically occur in southern British Columbia and the boreal forest that stretch from Alaska to Newfoundland and Labrador.
There are three major triggers or factors that start forest fires in the country, namely lightning, humans, and prescribed fires. Lightning accounts for around 50% of all forest fires, but contributes to roughly 85% of the annual area burned.
Most of the rest are caused by human carelessness and just a small number of forest fires are started by authorized forest managers. The latter is supposed to mimic wildfires with the benefit of renewing and maintaining the country’s healthy ecosystems.
Outside of this mimicry, the government spent around $800 million to $1.5 billion annually to quell uncontrolled fires during the last 10 years.
How Data on Forest Fires in Canada are Collected
Before 1975, Canada used to collect fire data by interpreting aerial images and on-the-ground mapping. Data collection was focused on populated areas and was done mainly by provincial or territorial authorities. So, there was rare documentation of forest fires in the mid and far north parts of the country.
By 1975, satellite imagery became available and has been used since then to collect fire data in Canada. Compared to the previous data collection methods used, satellite imagery provides a complete and more consistent picture of all the fires occurring in the country.
The Record for Most Fires
The most number of fires recorded was in 1989 with more than 10,000 fires burning through an estimated 18.5 million acres (7.5 million hectares) in Manitoba, according to the National Forestry Database (NFD).
The result was smoke so heavy that it resulted in low visibility. “The smoke is so bad you can’t even see your next-door neighbor,” Clarence McDougall told the Los Angeles Times. Then Northern Affairs Minister Jim Downey added: “There’s no sunlight to speak of at all. It’s like dusk in the middle of the afternoon.”
In addition to destroyed homes and displaced people, the 1989 forest fire also led to huge losses to the country’s forestry industry. The New York Times reports that the fire resulted in an estimate of $50 to $75 million worth of damage to timber. The forestry industry has made significant contributions to Canada’s economy in terms of gross domestic product and employment, which includes providing jobs to Indigenous people.
The Record for Largest Area
In terms of burned area, the 1989 forest fire’s previous position has been taken over by 2023’s unprecedented wildfires. Imagine Portugal’s area of more than 35,500 square miles (92,000 square kilometers). Now double that and you’ll get an approximation of how large an area the wildfires ravaged: a record total of 45.7 million acres (18.5 million hectares).
A series of more than 6,500 fires burned through a wide expanse of Canada, from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, damaging mostly boreal forests in their wake. Fortunately, most of the wildfires occurred in remote areas of the country, with the notable exception of Yellowknife. The Northwest Territories capital suffered from multiple fires and its 20,000 citizens had to flee the inferno in their midst.
“It has been an exceptional, epic year,” Stephen Pyne, a fire historian at Arizona State University, told The Guardian. “We are watching mythology become ecology – it’s a slow-motion Ragnarök. We’ve had ice ages in the past but we are now living through what I call the ‘pyrocene’. Imagine an ice age but instead of ice as a forming feature, we have fire.”
The effects of the enormous fires could be seen and felt in neighboring United States and even across the pond in Europe. For instance, in June, reports of New York City’s skies turning orange abounded, and hazy skies were observed in Florida and parts of Europe. Because of the smoke, people in eastern Canada and north-east U.S. had to wear masks again, while asthma and similar conditions increased.
Impacts of Canada’s Forest Fires
The recent wildfires that gripped the country raises concerns about the mixture of vegetation that will regrow in place of the fir and spruce trees of Canada’s boreal forest. Some are worried that what takes their place might be just a different but still flammable flora.
“We are seeing an environment adapted to ice being driven off to be replaced by one that is adapted to fire,” Pyne told The Guardian. “If you have these sort of fires, … you start to see quite big changes.”
Most people, however, are concerned with the effect that climate change has on these wildfires. Canada’s vast boreal forests is an important carbon bank, but it seems to be malfunctioning. The European Union’s satellite monitoring service has reported that the wildfires emitted were responsible for the highest carbon emissions in Canada so far.
As early as May, Canada’s forest fires released nearly 480 megatons of carbon, which ballooned to 2,100 megatons by December. It represents more than 20% of total global carbon emissions for the year, which is five times the average for the last two decades.
“The wildfires in Canada were the significant story in global fire emissions for 2023,” commented Mark Parrington, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) senior scientist. “The scale across much of the country, and persistence with fires continuing from May until October, was at a level which has never been seen in the data record (including longer records than those we have in the GFAS dataset). The impacts of North American air quality, and the fact that Europe could experience hazy skies as a result of these fires gives a clear indication of their significance.”
Canada is a major fossil fuel-production country, and these recent wildfires might derail concerted efforts to reduce pollution and avert the climate crisis. Like the Amazon, it appears that Canada’s boreal forests are now becoming a danger to the climate instead of being the Earth’s safeguard against potential climate disasters.
What Is the Record for Forest Fires in Canada?
In conclusion, Canada has faced devastating forest fires, with the most fires recorded in 1989 and largest area burned in 2023. Climate change exacerbates the situation, impacting ecosystems and global carbon emissions.