Research SummaryWhat causes a record-breaking fire season?

The 2023 wildfire season in Canada was a record-breaker with unprecedented environmental and community effects.

Written with Dr. Mike Flannigan, "Canada Under Fire – Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season" looks at what caused this historic wildfire season and points out how climate change is making wildfires more dangerous and intense. The authors emphasize the importance of improving fire management strategies and getting communities ready for future fires.

Objectives

The researchers aimed to do a few things: they looked at how long and severe the 2023 wildfire season was, figured out which environmental factors were making wildfires more intense, and evaluated how these fires affected communities.

Methods

Findings

In 2023, Canada had its worst wildfire season ever. The fires caused more than 200 communities to evacuate, exposed millions to smoky air pollution, and put an unprecedented strain on firefighting resources.

This was mainly because of the early melting of snow, ongoing drought in western Canada, sudden drought in eastern Canada, and warming from climate change.

Authors

Piyush Jain, Quinn E. Barber, Stephen W. Taylor, Ellen Whitman, Dante Castellanos Acuna, Yan Boulanger, Raphaël D. Chavardès, Jack Chen, Peter Englefield, Mike Flannigan, Martin P. Girardin, Chelene C. Hanes, John Little, Kimberly Morrison, Rob S. Skakun, Dan K. Thompson, Xianli Wang, Marc-André Parisien

MLA Citation

Jain, Piyush, et al. “Canada Under Fire – Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season.” Nature Communications, vol. 2, Sept. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51154-7