Canada’s wildfire season off to a dramatically slower start so far
This year has seen a relatively small total area burned compared to the past couple of years
Canada’s wildfire season is off to a slower start so far this year, a welcome trend after several brutal years of destructive blazes and choking smoke.
The country has seen plenty of wildfires so far in 2026, but overall they haven’t erupted into enormous conflagrations like we’ve seen over the past few years.
Keep up with all the latest news and information at The Weather Network’s wildfire hub.
As of June 21, this year has seen 1,892 reported wildfires across the country. These blazes combined have burned about 167,914 hectares of land.
This value is 93 per cent below the five-year average for wildfire activity by this point in the year. On the same date last year, we’d seen just over 4 million hectares of land consumed by wildfires across the country.
Canada’s total area burned swelled to a whopping 6.5 million hectares by June 21, 2023, a year ultimately saw more than 18.5 million hectares burned in fires.
One of the most stunning statistics from 2023 is that Quebec’s enormous fire near La Grande Reservoir 2 sits in the books at 1,224,938 hectares consumed. This is roughly 7.2 times larger than all of Canada’s burned area combined through June 21 of this year.
Even though the total area affected by wildfires is much lower than average, the total number of blazes is generally within the realm of normal. The current 2026 count of 1,892 fires is just 13 per cent below the five-year normal.
This is some welcome news after several very difficult years. It’s certainly not a time to let our guard down, especially if you live in a community prone to wildfires. Always ensure you’ve got a plan and supplies in place to quickly evacuate if an order is issued.