A staggering nearly 45.7 million acres were burned in 2023, surpassing the previous high of 17.5 million acres.
By Ian Livingston, The Washington PostTrees burned by the Bush Creek East Wildfire are seen above Little Shuswap Lake in Squilax, British Columbia, on Monday, Sept. 11, 2023.
While composed of roughly 6,500 individual blazes, here are some helpful ways to think about the countrywide total:It is just shy of nine times the annual average, or about 80 times more than the country’s very quiet 2020 fire season. Since much of Canada is unpopulated, numerous large conflagrations were able to burn nearly unchecked as drought deepened in the west and hot conditions settled on parts of the east.
In addition to the countrywide record, many provinces destroyed their previous high marks, including:Alberta: 5.5 million acres burned, or nearly 2 million acres ahead of the old record.Nova Scotia: 62,000 acres burned, about six times the old record of around 10,000 acres.With nearly nonstop major fires, smoke production was prolific and unyielding across summer.
Indeed, the worst air quality on record was tallied in one or multiple episodes across Canada and into the northern United States.