Federal officials say the weather conditions expected this summer may lead to Greater Wildfire risk above normal temperatures along with the drought conditions across parts of the country could contribute to a bad Wildfire season the cbc’s maryan domain has more on what officials are saying this was the third briefing of the season from federal officials including the minister of emergency preparedness giving us a sense of the Wildfire season so far across Canada and what is in store as we head into the sever months that are expected to be quite hot in fact hotter than average now according to Federal officials there are currently 69 active wildfires across Canada eight of them are considered out of control and despite the fiery spring season that we saw with wildfires and not only the Northwest Territories British Columbia Alberta and Manitoba including the Parker Lake fire in northeastern BC that led to evacuations in Fort Nelson BC just a few weeks ago according to officials we’re still doing much better this time this year compared to this time last year take a look at this graphic here because it gives you a sense of what federal officials are talking about the red line shows the total area burned in 2023 and at the very bottom of the screen the black line shows this year just over 500,000 hectares burned so far and that’s way below what we saw this time last year and it’s also below the 10-year average of just over 770,000 hectares burned as a result of wildfires now although currently the fire severity is less than last year it can change quickly and that’s why they’re reminding Canadians to remain Vigilant now I continue to urge all Canadians to be prepared when it comes to Ware it’s important uh part of their prevention education last summer Canadians experienced the most destructive forest fire season in Canadian history federal government has been working and is working aggressively to ensure that Canadians are prepared to respond to wildfires this season and into the future Federal officials saying as we enter the summer months it is expected to be hotter in the next few weeks this map here gives you a sense of what they’re talking about particularly in the month of July above average to well above average fire activity is possible from Yukon and Eastern British Columbia across to Western Quebec the dark red areas on that map indicate where it’s expected to be the most intense drought conditions are also expected to continue in high-risk regions during the summer months especially over the Prairies that’s according to Federal officials now when it comes to resources for Canadians to ensure that they’re safe these uh next few weeks and into the Wildfire season across Canada fir smart Canada officials say has good tips for Canadians to be prepared as well as the government of Canada website Maryann demain CBC News Toronto for more on this we’ve reached Nathan gillet he is a research scientist at environment and climate change Canada and he joins us in Victoria Nathan I appreciate you Tak the time thank you hello so you heard me in front so you heard a reporter there federal official saying the summer months are expected to bring higher than average temperatures with risks of wildfires in the season remaining high is is that a fair assessment do you think uh yes that’s correct yes our seasonal forecasts show that for almost all of Canada we’re expecting uh warmer than normal conditions this summer so there was a lack of precipitation in BC and Alberta from March to May how do you think that’s going to play out in the summer months for for these higher risk provinces where we saw so many wildfires last year um yeah wherever there’s reduced precipitation reduced rainfall of course that’s going to increase Wildfire risk um and as you mentioned um looking forward into the later parts of the summer our seasonal forecasts precipitation forecasts are uncertain but they tend to predict reduced precipitation over the Prairies over the central parts of Canada um that will also tend to increase Wildfire risk so what factors other than drought could determine the severity of this Wildfire season um well temperature itself is a big driver so warmer temperatures uh will dry out the forest faster uh and that will lead to when wildfires start that means that they spread can spread more easily uh they can be more intense so um you know if we see a warmer than average summer as is like as is predicted to be likely uh you know and certainly as we saw last year then that certainly increases the risk of wildfire the area that we expect to burn and what about the impact of last year’s fires could that play a factor here as as more than 100,000 square kilometers of land were burned um it is something that we have to consider and that studies consider in modeling Wildfire um you know an area that’s burnt the previous year is less like is unlikely to burn again or certainly less likely to burn again um but it’s not a major factor in terms of considering the Wildfire season this year in particular now I I think you told my uh producer that sometimes climate change can work to draw out more precipitation can you explain that and whether you expect that um certainly overall across Canada we expect climate change to intensify wildfires and the main driver of that is warmer temperatures um it is true but at the same time um we do predict on average an increase in in rainfall in precipitation and in summer that’s particularly in the north of Canada so that factor does um tend to counteract the the effect of the warming to some extent um but like I say overall we expect the effect of climate change to be to intensify wildfires especially in the south of Canada and and that’s where you are uh and where the above average fire activity is possible what are you going to be watching for um yeah I mean I think as the season progresses we have luckily seen some um some rainfall in the last um in the last month in many regions of Canada um and in the west it’s been you know near normal condition near normal temperatures um but like I said the prediction is for warm conditions in the rest of the summer um so yeah we’ll be um it will be we’ll be watching how the Wildfire situation evolves um and hoping that we don’t see um a big intensification though as I said that that is what’s predicted by our colleagues at Natural Resources Canada Nathan thank you Nathan gillet in Victoria
Above-normal temperatures and drought conditions in parts of Canada could lead to a bad wildfire season this summer, federal officials say. CBC’s Marianne Dimain reports on the briefing, and research scientist Nathan Gillett explains what he’ll be watching for as we enter the summer months.
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