Upcoming wildfire season could be worse than last year, federal minister says (www.winnipegfreepress.com)

submitted 2 years ago by grte@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] grte@lemmy.ca 18 points 2 years ago

In fact I'd be very surprised if it is not. Last winter we got a decent amount of snow in my area. Not this year.

[-] tarsn@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 years ago

It's been downright warm and dry for winter. Definitely going to be a hot and dry summer. Can't wait to be unable to breathe outside for months again!

[-] hoot@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 years ago

I'm more of a glass-half-full kind of person. I think we should look at it as "Upcoming wildfire season could be best one for the next 50 years".

[-] Powerpoint@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 years ago

Will be worse than last year

[-] rab@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 years ago

I think I'll hide on Haida gwaii this summer

[+] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca -6 points 2 years ago

Last year wasn't too bad for fires, wouldn't be surprised if this year were worse.

I think this year will be worse than 2016/2017 which were absolutely terrible.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The 2023 wildfire season had the most area burned in Canada's recorded history, surpassing the 1989, 1995, and 2014 fire seasons,[4][2] as well as in recorded North American history, surpassing the 2020 Western US wildfire season.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Canadian_wildfires

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca -4 points 2 years ago

Eh, guess I'm just thinking about British Columbia. We have bad fire years pretty much every second year but last year was surprisingly pleasant for us. Rest of Canada not so much, despite being pretty much an afterthought for most people almost every other year.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

One of the biggest fires of last year was in the Peace Country of BC.

[-] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca -2 points 2 years ago

I mean, it was a lot.of area but mostly empty. There were a lot of people affected, don't get me wrong, but forBC there were a lot more affected in plenty of other years.

Hectares burned isn't a be-all-end-all measurement for devastation and hardship when it comes to wildfires. BC has had much worse fire seasons if you go by people affected.

[-] ikidd@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

In northeastern British Columbia, the Donnie Creek wildfire became the single largest wildfire in BC history. It attained this status on June 18. By June 24, the fire was burning over an area of greater than 5,648 square kilometres (2,180 square miles).[64][65][66]

There were 377 active wildfires in British Columbia as of July 15, including 20 that were classified as "highly visible, threatening or potentially damaging 'wildfires of note'".[67] Unruly blazes destroyed properties and closed parts of the Trans-Canada highway

In the west of Vancouver Island, highway access to the towns of Port Alberni, Tofino, and Ucluelet was cut off for more than two weeks due to the Cameron Bluffs wildfire.

The campus of UBC Okanagan and some nearby suburbs were placed under evacuation order.[126] Overall, at least 35,000 people were under evacuation order and another 30,000 under evacuation alert, as of August 19.

Multiple settlements were placed under evacuation orders, resulting in over 29,000 Albertans being evacuated by May 7.[52][110] On May 11, at least 300 members of the Canadian Armed Forces were sent to different parts of Alberta to help.

Maybe just move the goalposts to say "well, it didn't affect me personally because it didn't burn down the entire Lower Mainland, so it wasn't much of a fire season"