The beginning of wildfire season this year has been relatively calm compared to last year, but officials are warning that the risk of hot, dry weather and severe fires remains high. On May 9, the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported around 90 fires burning, with 12 of them classified as out of control.
“At the same time last year, the situation was quite different,” said Jean-François DuperrĂ©, the director of emergency planning for the government operations centre at Public Safety Canada. By May 9, 2023, there were over 200 fires burning, with nearly 50 of them out of control. Alberta experienced unusually warm and dry weather in late April and early May of last year, with minimal rainfall.
Alberta had already requested assistance to combat the fires by that date, and 25,000 people had been evacuated from their homes. Nearly 6,000 square kilometers had already been scorched. This extreme start led to the most devastating fire season in Canada’s history, with 6,600 fires burning over 150,000 square kilometers of forest, an area larger than New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island combined.
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Julienne Morissette, the director of wildland fire research for Natural Resources Canada, noted that Alberta’s spring has been slightly cooler this year with more precipitation than last year. However, she cautioned that despite the positive outlook, significant drought conditions persist, and rapid drying can occur as temperatures rise.
Natural Resources Canada reported that about one-third of the current fires are “zombie fires” from last year, which remained dormant underground during the winter and reappeared after the snow melted. So far, only over 176 square kilometers have been burned, well below the 25-year average of 510 square kilometers.
Currently, 40 fires are burning in Alberta, 24 in British Columbia, and 10 in Manitoba. New Brunswick has four fires, the only ones in Atlantic Canada, while Ontario has two and Quebec has one.
The fire forecast for May and June indicates an elevated risk across Western Canada, except for the west coast of British Columbia. There is a very high to extreme risk in southern and central Saskatchewan, parts of northern Alberta, and the interior of British Columbia.
Most of Ontario and western Quebec face a moderate risk, while eastern Quebec and Atlantic Canada have a low risk of wildfires.
