Canada to experience significant wildfire activity for ‘many weeks yet’: federal officials

By Megan DeLaire, CTVNews.ca Writer

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    Toronto, Ontario (CTV Network) — As Canada’s worst wildfire season on record continues to play out, officials say they expect above-average fire activity to persist throughout August and into September in large swaths of Northern and Western Canada.

During a technical briefing on Friday, Michael Norton, director general of the Northern Forestry Centre at Natural Resources Canada, said the same drought conditions that have driven this year’s record-smashing wildfire season will contribute to ongoing fire activity through late summer. While in some regions, rain has helped reduce fire activity, Norton said fires are still “very active” in British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

“In September, we anticipate that the potential area at extreme risk will become a bit smaller, covering southern B.C., Prairies, part of the Northwest Territories in Western Ontario,” Norton said.

“In much of this region, the number of new fires starting will taper off as we move through September later into fall. It’s important to remember, however, that large existing fires will continue burning, and new problematic fires can occur anywhere…and it is likely we will experience significant fire activity for many weeks yet. “

As of Aug. 10, 5,593 wildfires have burned 13.4 million hectares of land – an area greater than the landmass of the three maritime provinces combined – resulted in the deaths of four firefighters and forced the evacuation of 167,589 people across the country.

“As a bit of a comparison, the total perimeter length of this year’s fires so far would stretch more than 90 per cent of the way around the equator,” Norton said.

Carbon emissions from the fires now exceed one billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is equivalent to the amount of emissions generated by 306 million cars..

According to wildland fire data compiled by Natural Resources Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, every region of the country has weathered an especially intense wildfire season, with fires cropping up in places not normally associated with heavy wildfire activity, such as Nova Scotia.

“This kind of simultaneous fire activity in all regions of the country is virtually unheard of,” Norton said.

But Brian Simpson, head of wildfire intelligence at Natural Resources Canada, told reporters on Friday that a few provinces in particular have driven the national averages upward this year.

“The province with the most area burned is Quebec, by quite a very wide margin,” Simpson said. In June, dozens of wildfires in Quebec generated enough smoke to prompt air quality advisories in central and eastern Canada, as well as large swaths of the United States.

That same month, the Donnie Creek fire in northeastern B.C. was designated the largest recorded wildfire in the province’s history.

“Northwest Territories, B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan have all had really large areas burned as well,” Simpson said. “And in the case of Northwest Territories, Yukon, and B.C., those are still very actively burning. Simpson said the number of active fires burning in British Columbia is close to 400.

Canada has leaned on international firefighting aid from Australia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, France, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and the United States throughout the year’s unprecedented season. As these countries scale back their aid efforts in order to address progressing wildfire seasons at home, however, Norton said Canada has enough capacity to ride out the rest of this “remarkable” season and prepare for the next one.

This, he said, is partly due to wildfire fighting investments in the 2022 federal budget, including $256 million for equipment over five years and $28 million over five years under the Fighting and Managing Wildfires in a Changing Climate Program.

“Although the situation is serious, the season will end as we move into fall,” he said. “For the next season and beyond, we’ll need to consider how we can increase our resilience to wildland fire from response and preparedness through to prevention and mitigation. All Canadians will have a role to play.”

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