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Canada Under Fire – Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season
  • +15
  • Piyush Jain,
  • Quinn E Barber,
  • Steve 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
Piyush Jain
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Quinn E Barber
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Steve Taylor
Pacific Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Ellen Whitman
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Dante Castellanos Acuna
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, General Services Building
Yan Boulanger
Canadian Forest Service, du P.E.P.S, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Stn. Sainte-Foy
Raphaël D Chavardès
Canadian Forest Service, du P.E.P.S, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Stn. Sainte-Foy, Atlantic Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Institut de recherche sur les forêts, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue
Jack Chen
Environment and Climate Change Canada, Air Quality Research Division, Atmospheric Science and Technology Directorate
Peter Englefield
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Mike Flannigan
Natural Resource Science, Thompson Rivers University
Martin P Girardin
Canadian Forest Service, du P.E.P.S, Laurentian Forestry Centre, Natural Resources Canada, Stn. Sainte-Foy
Chelene C Hanes
Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service
John Little
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Kimberly Morrison
Pacific Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Rob S Skakun
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Dan K Thompson
Great Lakes Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service
Xianli Wang
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada
Marc-André Parisien
Northern Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada

Abstract

The 2023 wildfire season in Canada was unprecedented in its scale and intensity. Spanning from late April to early November and extending across much of the forested regions of Canada, the season resulted in a record-breaking total area burned of approximately 15 million hectares, over seven times the historic national annual average. The impacts were profound with more than 200 communities evacuated (approximately 232,000 people), periods of dense smoke that caused significant public health concerns, and unprecedented demands on fire-fighting resources. The exceptional area burned can be attributed to several environmental factors that converged early in the season to enable extreme fire danger over much of the country. These factors included early snowmelt, interannual drought conditions in western Canada, and the rapid transition to drought in eastern Canada. Furthermore, the mean May-October temperature over Canada in 2023 was a staggering 2.2°C warmer than normal (1991-2020), enabling sustained extreme fire weather conditions throughout the fire season. These conditions led to a larger than normal proportion of very large fires (> 50,000 hectares), many having burned for months from the spring into the fall. Fires that started in May or June accounted for over two-thirds of the total area burned. Overall, the 2023 wildfire season in Canada was characterized by its exceptional scale and major societal impacts, setting new records and highlighting the increasing challenges posed by wildfires in the country.
Note: The final peer reviewed version of this paper is now available at: Jain, P., Barber, Q.E., Taylor, S.W. et al. Drivers and Impacts of the Record-Breaking 2023 Wildfire Season in Canada. Nat Commun 15, 6764 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51154-7
19 Sep 2024Submitted to ESS Open Archive
19 Sep 2024Published in ESS Open Archive