A single flash of lightning strikes an aging conifer. Flaming embers fall on dry organic matter on the forest floor below. It spreads across a canopy of trees, as a fast-moving wind whips it up far and wide. Its sheer ferocity creates its own weather system. Suddenly, it approaches a large community, displacing its citizens, and consuming entire neighbourhoods. The devastation is felt here and afar, as smoke blankets cities hundreds of miles away.
Behind the record breaking wildfire season of 2023, “2025 has been the second worst wildfire season in Canadian history, with more than 6,000 wildfires in nearly every province and territory”. It marks the third severe wildfire season in a row. And the fires are burning beyond the typical regions. From coast to coast, they’ve become a country-wide concern. In 2025, “Manitoba and Saskatchewan account(ed) for more than half the area burned”. Nationally, wildfires consumed 8.3 million hectares of land. That’s an Austria-sized area gone up in flames!
However, by understanding the nature and impact of wildfires, we can be better prepared to prevent and mitigate the damage they cause.
What causes wildfires?
All it takes is ignition, fuel, and dry weather. Ignition can either be a flash of lightning or can be human caused. However, with fire bans and better education, less than half of wildfires are due to human activity. As for fuel, Canada is abundant in it. In fact, “with almost 362 million hectares (ha), Canada ranks as the country with the third-largest forest area in the world”. Dry, hot weather is the last ingredient…conditions we’re still feeling in the middle of winter. According to one news report, in January 2024, “more than 100 ‘zombie fires’ were actively burning in British Columbia — holdovers from last summer that typically go dormant over winter”.
What is the human cost of wildfires?
Wildfires present a clear danger to health and safety. Sadly in 2023, two firefighters lost their lives to wildfires. From a health perspective, long-term exposure to smoke harms the young, elderly, and those with respiratory conditions like asthma. There’s also the emotional cost of losing a home, and everything in it to a fire. We’ve also witnessed the fear and anxiety of entire communities forced to flee wildfires. The Jasper wildfire which began July 22, 2024 “damaged or destroyed a third of the community”.
What is the financial cost of wildfires?
The displacement of people from their homes comes with a great financial burden. “The heightened risk and impacts have forced evacuations of more than 85,000 people, including over 45,000 people from 73 First Nations communities.” This disruption presents a deep financial cost to affected communities. In Manitoba alone, the potential losses of 2025 wildfires “accounted for 2.4% of total provincial GDP”.
What is the environmental cost of wildfires?
In 2023, 18 million hectares of land burned in 2023 Canadian wildfires, destroying ecosystems that will take decades or more to recover. Additionally, according to an article from Phys.org, “Hundreds of forest fires since early May have generated nearly 600 million metric tons of CO2, equivalent to 88 percent of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions from all sources in 2021.” The immediate and long-term environmental costs of wildfires are earth shattering.
What can you do about wildfires?
Because of their unpredictable and unrelenting nature, it would be easy to feel helpless in the face of wildfires. But there are things you can do to help protect yourself and prevent or mitigate damage to your home. To learn how to prepare yourself, stay safe, or recover from a wildfire, visit www.aviva.ca/WildfirePreparedness. You can also check out our companion blogs, “Safe from the flame: how to survive a wildfire” and “Safe from the flame: how to protect your home from wildfires”.
