Wildfires in Canada are the largest in the country's history

Earlier this month, we wrote that Canada's wildfires this year could be the most extensive in the country's history. And on Monday, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) reported that the fire season is not yet over, but has already become the most destructive in Canadian history. Meanwhile, hundreds of fires continue to burn across the country, many of which cannot be brought under control.

Last week, Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said he wasn’t “looking to break any records" while admitting that those very new "records" are very likely. Some have even been broken, such as in British Columbia. "Unfortunately the fire season this year started earlier and has been more widespread across the country than in recent memory", Blair said.

The 2023 wildfire season has officially become the most devasating in Canadian history. CIFFC announced that 76,129 square kilometers of forest and other land have been affected by fire since January 1 of this year. This exceeds the "record" set in 1989. At that time, according to the National Forestry Database, 75,596 square kilometers of land were affected by fire.

In 1989, the number of fires was higher than this year — over 11 thousand. However, the average size of one fire was many times smaller: about 7 square kilometers. 2023 has so far been marked by less than 3 thousand fires, but the average area of each of them is equal to 26 square kilometers.

There are currently 490 active fires in Canada, 255 of which are uncontrolled.