Another disappointing record of Canadian wildfires
Wildfires have burned 10 million hectares of land across the country.
The wildfire season has set several records that are hardly something to be proud of. And this weekend, another "achievement" was revealed: 10 million hectares of land burned in Canada. That's just under the size of the island of Newfoundland, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).
According to Natural Resources Canada, this is a record. Never before in the country's history have wildfires burned such an area.
The data show that the previous highest figure was approximately 7.6 million hectares burned in 1989. That, however, took a full year to accomplish. The year 2023 has already brought 10 million hectares, and the officials claim that the fire season is about half over.
An early start to the fire season, unusually dry weather and unusually high temperatures have led to about 880 fires across the country this year. CIFFC report that the majority of fires are currently burning in western Canada. Of the provinces, British Columbia is the leader, with 376 wildfires active as of July 16.
On average, approximately 8,000 wildfires burn 2.1 million hectares per fire season in Canada. This season has been unusual. It is expected that at the end of the season, there will be half as many fires as usual, but they have already been enough to exceed the average area burned by 5 times.
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