2023 Wildfire Season: Massive Wildfires in Canada Continue

Obtained on June 26, 2023 from https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/maps/fm3?type=tri&year=2023&month=6&day=26

About once or twice a week I see an article about the wildfires burning in Canada, today I saw this article from the Express and Star reporting on wildfire smoke from Canada drifting towards the United Kingdom. I was curious both about the extent of these wildfires, so I went to the Canadian Wildfire Information System. They have lots of information so if you are curious about a larger view of the current wildfire situation in Canada this is one site where you may go. I suspect that each Province has their own forest fire website and I will leave you to your own devices to find those sites if you are interested.  Anyway, I found a hotspot map on the Canadian Wildfire Information System website dated today, June 26th which I shared above with a link. 

I was curious about some numbers for the wildfires that have burned in Canada this year. I found a report, dated June 21st (what you see may be different if you access the report later). These reports appear to be updated weekly and you may find three months worth of archived reports in the appropriate link. According to the June 21st report there have been 2,765 wildfires year to date burning 5,958,026 hectares (14,722,603 acres). The ten year year to date average is 2,068 wildfires burning 393.746 hectares (979,968 acres). The Canadian Interagency Fire Center (CIFFC) -- similar to the Inciweb Incident Management System in the U.S. -- has  a clickable map that you may access.

Having seen reports of wildfire crew deployments to Canada from various States in the United States as well as countries from around the world, I was curious to see a listing of deployments to Canada. The June 21st report from the Canadian Wildfire Information System provided this information:

At the time of this report, aircraft, personnel, and equipment have been mobilized to Alberta, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, and CIFFC from across Canada. There are American, Australian, New Zealand, South African, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mexican, Chilean, and Costa Rican personnel active in Canada, with additional personnel from Australia, and New Zealand, Mexico, and the United States anticipated.