Climate change contributing to worst-ever wildfire season in Canada

According to update data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre on Monday evening, 2258 wildfires till date this year. Among the, 426 are active and 240 out of control.

With 3.6 hectare of land already burned, climate change could be contributing towards making 2023 a particularly severe year for wildfires in Canada.

A firefighter directs water on a grass fire on an acreage behind a residential property in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. (AP)

According to update data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre on Monday evening, 2258 wildfires till date this year. Among the, 426 are active and 240 out of control.

The fires have occurred across the country, in nine provinces and territories, from Alberta in the west to Quebec in the east. “Across the country, several provinces and territories are experiencing a severe wildfire season, and the effects are already widespread,” a release from Natural Resources Canada said.

The norm for a typical wildfire season during the summer is just over 1600 such events covering approximately 250,000 hectare.

According to a forecast presented by the Government on Monday, current June projections “indicate the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity across most of the country throughout the 2023 wildland fire season.” The modelling warns of the majority of Canada facing the threat of wildfires.

“Year after year, with climate change, we’re seeing more and more intense wildfires, and in places where they don’t normally happen,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during a press conference in Ottawa on Monday.

Over 120,000 Canadians have been displaced by the wildfires this year, with another 25000 plus under evacuation orders so far.

“While this is not yet Canada’s most severe fire season, if this trajectory continues it very well could be,” Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said at the briefing.

Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair concurred, as he said, “The images we have seen so far this season are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada.”

Trudeau added, “Our modelling shows this may be an especially severe wildfire season throughout the summer.”

He said emergency preparedness could deal with the challenges posed by the unusually severe phenomenon, which started in May, but contingency plans included greater assistance from the Canadian Armed Forces.