Up in Smoke: Understanding Canada's Wildfires in 2023
Clearing up confusion, misinformation, and causation
Justin Nicholls
6220735
ENSU 2P02
Dr. Ellyse Winter
August, 15th 2023
A Glance at Fire in Canada in 2023
Canada
13,123,362
hectares burned
As of August 4th, 2023
(Canadian Interagency
Forest Fire Centre, 2023)
Alberta
1,942,316
hectares burned
As of August 4th, 2023
(Government of Alberta, 2023)
Quebec
1,539,691
hectares burned
As of August 4th, 2023
(Société de Protection des
Forêts Contre le Feu, 2023)
approximately
4%
of Canadian forest has been burned
over
30,000
Alberta residents evacuated
(CityNews Edmonton
Staff, 2023)
over
14,000
Quebec residents evacuated
(Morris, 2023)
5, 625
Total Fires
While this is not the most fires on record in a year, 2023 has been a record breaker for area burned, with Alberta and Quebec taking the lead.
1,129 active fires
as of
August 10th
(Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre)
(Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, 2023)
Historic Fires
1919 "Great Fire"
>2 million hectares burned
(Murphy, Tymstra, and Massie, 2015, p. 22 ).
1950 "Chinchaga Fire"
>1.5 million hectares burned
(Myronets, 2023).
Wet sacks and flails were used for backfiring and fighting fires in grassland meadows in 1919
2011 Richardson Fire
>1.7 million hectares burned
(Myronets).
Canada is no stranger to wildfire, previous decades had thousands of fires per year, but 2023 has burned more than usual. Major fires, such as the one that destroyed Fort McMurray, are carved into the minds of Canadians. We ask ourselves, "how did this happen?"
Misinformation, disinformation, and education
Take some time to read these Tweets regarding Canda's 2023 Wildfires.
(@tdillon06 on Twitter, 2023)
(@jsmith4966 on Twitter, 2023)
(@Gello53, @GatorUltimatum, @SaraSara50552 on Twitter, 2023)
(@Brian_MNB on Twitter, 2023)
(@_kaypro on Twitter, 2023)
With 2023 being such an aggressive season, misinformation and disinformation have been running rabid.
Some have been spread by bots, but some are Tweets of what people truly think is happening.
And that is alarming.
Helicopter
When innocent people are misinformed, it is hard to pull them back.
It is important to have conversations based on education and informing people about climate change, controlled burns, and how fires start and spread.
(@BGatesIsaPsycho on Twitter, 2023)
(@kenoconnor18 on Twitter, 2023)
Education
Environmental and sustainability education is essential to assist in our understanding of mitigating, preventing, and handling wildfires. Education, whether it be in schools or as adults, will teach people the relationships between humans and the environment around us (ERSC, 2017).
One of the major conspiracy theories was shown in the sample Tweets above is about controlled burns (or "controlled ignitions").
However, it is true and valid that fires are started by humans, as 90% are
(Flannigan, 2019).
In nature, fire is employed as a tool, where fire assumes a pivotal role in the upkeep and balance of select ecosystems. The utilization of fire contributes to the establishment of habitats, preservation of biodiversity, and is integral to life cycle completion and rejuvenation of specific plant species (Kelly, Giljohann, & Duane, 2020), controlled burns help achieve this in certain areas, such as forests with lots of deadfall and grasslands.
However, controlled burns create firebreaks helps to slow down the spread of fires if on is already in progress. Firebreaks makes it easier to control or put them out by pre-burning accelerants (Parks Canada, 2022).
If fire helps, why are they so bad?
Natural fires and natural burn cycles are important to the life cycle of forests, grasslands, and other living species. However, poor fire management (not engaging in controlled burns) and climate change have caused an increased speed in the spread of fire (Rupasinghe & Chow-Fraser, 2022).
Canada's forests, savannahs, shrublands, have experienced longer, drier, summers with extreme heat (Kelly) (Federal, Provincial and Territorial Governments of Canada, 2010, p. 97).
To put it simply, the fires have become too extreme.
Long term Impact of Fires
As fires rapidly spread, there are multiple impacts:
Evacuations
Loss of homes, possessions, and life
Biodiversity loss
Animals, habitats, plants
Monetary
Insurance, government budgets, recovery
A fire approaches Fort McMurray (2016)
Evacuations
Citizen evacuate near Halifax (2023)
In the best case scenario, those who evacuate return to their homes intact with nothing but settled ash and dust to clean up.
In the worst case scenario, those who evacuate return to nothing but rubble, chared foundation, and maybe missing or perished pets and working animals who could not evacuate in time. Fires move fast, sometime without enough time to warn.
As seen on the map above, many fires take place in remote, northern areas.
As seen on the map below of Indigenous land, it is visible that Indigenous people will be disproportionately impacted by wildfires in Canada and the troubles that come with them.
(Ministry of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada, 2023)
Compare it to a population density heat map...
(Ministry of Natural Resources Canada, 2017)
When reviewing the three maps above, it is evident how Indigenous communities are disproporitanetly impacted by wildfires in Canada.
Many Indigenous communities have suffered significant damage, leading to the loss of multiple homes and dwellings Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation and Fox Lake in Little Red River Cree Nation early in the fire season (Smith, 2023). The fires in the North further harm Indigenous people by impeding the economic prospects and cultural traditions associated with the boreal forest region.
Indigenous people
are more vulnerable before and after evacuations, especially since my Indigenous communities face increased poverty and
Fire damage in the East Prairie Métis Settlement
in multifamily/ multi generational homes (Tepley, Parisien,
Wang, Oliver, & Flanningan, 2022, 2).
Biodiversity Loss
Across the prairies, there is a history of absolute deforestation and vast petroleum and natural gas exploration (Rupasinghe et al., 3). Human actions have created a vulnerability, as there are 1,241 species listed on the Species at Risk Public Registry
Many fires are currently burning across the boreal forest, which has a low plant diversity. Most of the species can survive in a climate with long cold periods and short, hot, dry summers, which the prayers expose them to. (Rupasignhe et al.). These extreme seasons make the plants vulnerable, as heat and dryness make fires spread faster. As there are not many plant species, fires can destroy plants and harm others to the point of permanently altering the ecosystem. The threat from changed fire activity to species at risk of extinction is greater for savannahs (28%), closely followed by grasslands (26%), rocky areas (26%), shrublands (26%), and forests (19%) (Kelly et al., 2).
Monetary Loss
Through the lens of Fort McMurray
According to Public Safety Canada, the Fort McMurray wildfire destroyed 2,400 homes and businesses.
It is estimated that there was a total cost of $4,068,678,000 post-fire through insurance payments and Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements alone (Public Safety Canada, n.d.).
Works Cited
@_kaypro. (2023, June 8). Kara. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/_kaypro/status/1666766950259650561?s=20
@BGatesIsaPsycho. (2023, June 5). Concerned Citizen. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/BGatesIsaPyscho/status/1665664870744743936?s=20
@Brain_MNB. (2023, August 11). BRIAN. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/Brian_MNB/status/1689980042317639681?s=20
@GatorUltimatum. (2023, June 29). The Gator Ultimatum. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/GatorUltimatum/status/1674416621614682117?s=20
@Gello53. (2023, June 7). Gina G. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gello53/status/1666652747335073794?s=20
@jsmith4966. (2023, August 11). AppPatriotgirl 🇺🇸 . Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/jsmith4966/status/1689992824773599232?s=20
@kenoconnor18. (2023, June 8). ken o’connor 🐭. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/kenoconnor18/status/1666764423384678400?s=20
@SaraSara5052. (2023, July 1). Sara Mclean. Retrieved from Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaraSara50552/status/1675168033818517504?s=20
Canadian Interagency Fores Fire Centre. (2023, August 4). Fire Statistics. Retrieved from CIFFC: https://ciffc.net/summary
CityNews Edmonton Staff. (2023, May 7). Nearly 30,000 Albertans Have Been Evacuated Due to Wildfires. Retrieved from CityNews: https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2023/05/07/30000-albertans-evacuated-wildfires/
Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. (2023, June). Indigenous Peoples and Lands. Retrieved from Government of Canada: https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/DAM/DAM-CIRNAC-RCAANC/DAM-STSRCD/STAGING/images-images/ai_mprm_fnc_tab_png_1673886428169_eng.png
Environmental Sustaibility Research Centre. (2017). Environemental Sustaibility In Practice. In Sustainability Education. St. Catharines.
Government of Alberta. (2023, August 4). Rocky Mountain House Area Update. Retrieved from Alberta Wildfire: https://srd.web.alberta.ca/rocky-mountain-house-area-update
Kelly, L. T., Giljohann, K. M., & Duane, A. (2020). Fire and Biodiversity in the Anthropocene. Science, 370.
Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. (2023, August 10). Interactive Map. Retrieved from Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/interactive-map
Ministry of Natural Resources. (2017, January 27). Canada's Population Density. Retrieved from Government of Canada: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/11325935-3af3-543e-80d4-8cf6cb4900e2/resource/ea0d478a-c2a0-49e8-ae70-d2cafcb7da64?inner_span=True
Morris, E. (2023, June 4). Quebec Fire Authorities say They're Unable to Bring all Fires Under Control. Retrieved from CBC News: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-fires-burning-out-of-control-1.6865147
Murphy, P. J., Tymstra, C., & Massie, M. (2015). The Great Fire of 1919- People and a Shared Firestorm in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. Forest History Today, 22-30.
Parks Canada. (2022). Prescribed Fire. Retrieved from Government of Canada: parks.canada.ca/nature/science/conservation/feu-fire/dirige-prescribedr
Rupasinghe, P. A., & Chow-Fraser, P. (2021, September 15). Relating Pre-fire Canopy Species, Fire Season, and Proximity to Surface Waters to Burn Severity of Boreal Wildfires in Alberta, Canada. https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.library.brocku.ca/journal/forest-ecology-and-management, 496.
Smith, M. (2023, May 14). Indigenous Communities in Alberta Coping With ‘Emotional Roller-Coaster’ of Wildfires. Retrieved from CBC News: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/indigenous-communities-in-alberta-coping-with-emotional-roller-coaster-of-wildfires-1.6841846
Société de Protection des Forêts Contre le Feu. (2023, August 4). Intensive Zone. Retrieved from SOPFEU: https://sopfeu.qc.ca
Tepley, A. J., Parisien, M.-A., Wang, X., Oliver, J., & Flannigan, M. (2022). Wildfire Evacuation Patterns and Syndromes Across Canada's Forested Regions. Ecosphere, n/a-n/a.