Wildfire seasons, amplified by climate change, are getting hotter, longer, and drier, and Canada’s resources are buckling under the weight of the number and scale. In the last three years, Canada has spent more days at National Preparedness Level (NPL) five—the highest, meaning domestic resources are maxed out—than in the combined years of the decade before.

A decade ago, destructive fire seasons were seen as flukes—until 2023, the worst fire season in Canada’s history. That year was followed by two more extreme fire seasons. All told, 8 percent of Canada’s forests have burned in the last three years, which works out to be about 4 million hectares a year—four times the rate in the 1970s.

This summer, with the combination of a “Super El Niño” and persistent drought on Canada’s West and East Coasts, scientists are predicting high intensity wildfires across the country—and particularly in the west.

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[–] GodofLies@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

We're going to see every single government in Canada cover their ears, eyes and more to say everything is fine while propping up the natural resource extraction industry. It's the only thing Canada has left as the 'easy' answer to prop up our economy. We don't have a booming tech industry - we only have unicorn tech companies. We don't have a boom financial industry - most people would rather invest elsewhere. We export more raw resources instead of turning them into higher margin value added goods. Every industry that's worthwhile has a good chunk of foreign investment already (oil and gas for example), even the auto industry - most are foreign and the federal government bends over backwards trying to save it rather than pivot out of it over time.

I'd also say that the clear cutting of Canada's old growth to barely even 3% left is the result of what happens when we do not let our forests recover - I believe the forestry industry and their sustainability practices is a farce. This is a century time scale problem not a few decades problem. Every subsequent government has been kicking the can down the road and now we're getting into the 'find out' phase in FAFO. And still there are people still taking the stance of 'it doesn't matter/it doesn't affect me'.