Canada Facing Record Wildfire Season, Officials Say

Federal officials in Canada are predicting a record wildfire season, with heightened wildfire risks and dry conditions expected to last through August.

Wildfires are already burning with uncommon scope throughout Canada. “The distribution of fires from coast to coast this year is unusual. At this time of the year, fires usually occur only on one side of the country at a time, most often that being in the west,” said Michael Norton, an official with Canada’s Natural Resources ministry, as reported by Reuters.

“The rate of increase of area burned is also high,” Norton added. “If this rate continues, we could hit record levels for area burned this year,” Norton added.

Multiple fires, started by lightning strikes, are burning in Quebec, and more than 6.7 million acres have burned in 2023 so far. Fires in eastern Canada are causing smoke to worsen air quality across the midwestern and eastern U.S., NBC News reported, triggering alerts of dangerous air quality. 

The gases and particles in wildfire smoke can cause headaches and coughing at mild exposure, but in higher quantities can enter the bloodstream and lungs, leading to difficulty breathing, asthma attacks and life-threatening impacts, such as heart attacks or strokes.

Canada is currently working to provide additional funding and training for more firefighting resources ahead of the predicted worst fire season. France is also sending additional firefighters to control the more than 150 fires burning in Quebec, according to CBC. Around 14,000 people have been evacuated from the area. 

“We are already seeing one of the worst wildfire seasons on record, and we must prepare for a long summer,” Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, said in a statement. “The Government of Canada is stepping up to the request for assistance from Quebec and will immediately begin mobilizing Canadian Armed Forces, firefighting resources and assistance with planning to support the wildfire response in the province.”

Across Canada, there are nearly 250 “out of control” wildfires (and a total of more than 400 active fires), as well as 26,000 people evacuated, Reuters reported.

“This is a scary time for a lot of people,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a press conference. “When people lose their homes, they don’t just lose a roof and their possession; they lose a special place where they saw their children grow up, where they built a life.”

The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System offers current fire conditions around the country and currently shows a well-above-average forecast severity anomaly for June.

Officials will continue monitoring wildfires at least twice per day with the WildFireSat satellite as part of its wildfire response.