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Create AccountFollowing the Group of Seven summit in France, Canada pledged to give $11 million to Brazil to help fight the wildfires that had been burning in large portions of the Amazon rainforest. Canada also offered to send firefighting aircraft. This was in addition to the $20 million pledged by the Group as a whole.
Disastrous fires may result from arson, accident or uncontrolled forest fire. Their impact may include lives lost, people evacuated and property damaged. Numerous fires, especially forest fires, occur in Canada every year; this article details the worst that have occurred throughout the country’s history.
The 4,000 residents of High Level, Alberta, along with 750 people from the nearby Bushe River Reserve, were evacuated as a 69,000-hectare forest fire burned approximately 3 km from the community. The village of Wabasca and the Bigstone Cree Nation were ordered to evacuate on 29 May, while Chipewyan Lake Village was evacuated overnight on 30 May.
Wildfires occur every summer. However, the scale and frequency of wildfires is increasing due to climate change. In 2020, for example, California experienced its worst wildfire season on record, with smoke from that region billowing north to British Columbia and other provinces. In 2018, wildfires in British Columbia burned 1,354,284 hectares — more area than ever before. Here is the background on wildfires, from a Canadian perspective.
As a “heat dome” wreaked havoc in British Columbia, the town of Lytton set the Canadian record for highest single-day temperature on 27 June, with 46.6˚C. It was the first temperature above 45˚C ever recorded in Canada. The town of about 250 people broke the record the next day with a temperature of 47.9˚C. Two days later, on 30 June, the town was wiped off the map by a wildfire that forced the evacuation of about 1,000 people and left two people dead.
Twenty evacuation orders were in effect in British Columbia due to about 300 wildfires across the province. Twelve per cent of the fires were rated as “highly visible or a threat to life or property.” Smoke from the fires was also causing haze and myriad health issues throughout the province.
A forest fire is a moving combustion reaction, spreading outwards in a band from its ignition point, leaving burned-out forest behind it. On average, about 6,000 forest fires occur annually in Canada.
A province-wide state of emergency was issued after 566 forest fires across the province forced more than 3,000 people to evacuate their homes. The federal government deployed 220 Armed Forces personnel, two helicopters and an airplane to assist 3,372 firefighters already on the ground. By the end of August, more than 12,984 sq. km had burned, making 2018 the worst forest fire season in BC history.
