Wildfire season shaping to be Canada’s fourth worst on record

Wildfire season shaping to be Canada’s fourth worst on record IAN BAILEY OTTAWA PUBLISHED 1 HOUR AGO UPDATED 37 MINUTES AGO Open this photo in gallery: An aerial firefighting crew drops water from a helicopter on the Bald Range wildfire near Summerland, B.C., on Aug. 10. Most of the 12,000 residents of Summerland were allowed to return home Tuesday. B.C. WILDFIRE SERVICE/THE CANADIAN PRESS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. This year’s wildfire season is shaping up to be the fourth worst on record in Canada, with above-average temperatures and continuing drought in some regions of the country raising the risk of further devastation in the coming weeks, the federal government says. Wildfire officials in British Columbia confirmed Tuesday that a ferocious wildfire destroyed or damaged some 150 structures in the province’s Okanagan region. More than 20,000 residents were evacuated when the Bald Range fire broke out Aug. 7 in the district municipality of Summerland and nearby Peachland, prompting the declaration of a provincial state of emergency. “We know we’re still in the heart of the wildfire season and that some communities face really difficult and sometimes uncertain conditions,” federal Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski told a virtual briefing on Tuesday. “Across the country, then, the wildfire situation remains serious.” The metrics that reveal the human cost of a wildfire season While the wildfire season doesn’t officially end until Oct. 31, this year is already on track to be among the country’s worst, when measured against previous seasons at this point in August. Canada’s most destructive wildfire season was 2023, with fires consuming an estimated 16.5 million hectares, an area about 29 times the size of Prince Edward Island, or roughly one-sixth the entire area of Ontario. Last year was the second worst, with fires in nearly every province and territory that burned more than 8.3 million hectares. As of Tuesday, a government media release said, there are 582 active wildfires nationally, including 31 out of control. So far this season, the government said, 4,793 fires have burned 4.1 million hectares, compared with 4,584 fires by mid-August in 2025 that had consumed 7.7 million hectares. Modelling by Natural Resources Canada indicates fires in southern British Columbia are expected to remain active, though forecasted…