Canadian Wildfire Season Off a to Slower Start Than 2023, but Risk From Drought Remains High

The start of wildfire season in Canada has been far less intense than it was last year, but fire officials warn of the risk of hot, dry weather and severe fires remains high, The Canadian Press reported (5-9-24). That risk is driving earlier planning to respond to wildfires and a pilot project involving volunteers from Canadian aid organizations to improve the national response to sever fires that require evacuation.

As of noon on Thursday, approximately 90 fires were burning, including 12 classified as being out of control, The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre said. Of the current fires, 40 are burning in Alberta, 24 in British Columbia, and 10 in Manitoba. The four fires burning in New Brunswick are the only ones in Atlantic Canada, while Ontario has two and Quebec one.

Jean-Francois Duperre, the director of emergency planning for the federal government operations center at Public Safety Canada, told The Canadian press that “At the same time last year, the situation was quite different.” On May 9th, 2023, there were more than 200 fires burning and almost 50 of them were out of control. Most of those were in Alberta, which saw unusually warm weather in late April and early May of last year, with almost no rain. By that date Alberta was already asking for help to fight fires, and 25,000 people had been forced to flee their homes. Almost 6,000 square kilometers had already burned.

That extreme start led to the worst fire season Canada has seen by far, with 6,600 fires burning more than 150,000 square kilometers of forest—an area greater than all of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island combined.

Emergency Preparedness Minister Harjit Sajjan said the lessons from last summer are guiding planning for this summer. That includes launching a pilot project to better coordinate with and utilize volunteers from aid groups.

Last summer there were 18 requests for federal assistance from the provinces and territories, and 2,135 Canadian Armed Forces personnel were deployed to help. Sajjan said this summer a project is launching in BC and Northwest Territories, two of the hardest hit regions in 2023 and two of the highest risk regions in 2024.