Canada’s 2025 Wildfire Season Now Second Worst on Record

Canada’s 2025 wildfire season is now the second-worst on record, with the past three seasons all ranking among the top 10 worst, The Canadian Press reports (8-8-25).

Figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC) show fires have burned 72,000 square kilometers (17.79 million acres)—an area roughly the size of New Brunswick. That surpasses the total in 1989, previously the second-worst year, and is about half the area burned during the record-setting 2023 season, according to federal wildfire data dating back to 1972.

The 2025 fires have displaced thousands of people and blanketed communities across Canada in smoke. Manitoba and Saskatchewan account for more than half the burned area so far, with British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario also well above their 25-year averages.

The military and coast guard were deployed last week to help fight fires in Newfoundland and Labrador. Canada has been at its highest preparedness level since late May, relying on international assistance. As of Friday, 446 international firefighters were in the country, said CIFFC spokesperson Alexandria Jones. In total, about 1,400 have been deployed this year, including more crews from Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico than in previous seasons.

“We really need to do a lot more to manage our forest, to reduce the impact of climate change, and better prepare the communities that are at risk,” said Anabela Bonada, managing director of climate science at the Intact Center on Climate Adaptation at the University of Waterloo.