Canada’s unprecedented wildfire season
As of July 20, a staggering 11.1 million hectares of forest area has burned in Canada – an area roughly the size of the island of Newfoundland – with several weeks of peak wildfire season to go. The previous national record for area burned was set in 1989 (the record began in 1983) when 7.6 million hectares of wildland burned. This year, that number was surpassed on June 27, following weeks of intense-burning wildfires from coast to coast. In a typical year, Canada sees about 2.1 million hectares burned by the end of the season.
