Heavy smoke conditions choking major United States cities have thrust Canada's wildfire response efforts into the spotlight, prompting fresh allegations that it is ill-prepared and underfunded to manage what is on track to be its worst-ever fire season.
Critics have also blamed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for repeatedly invoking climate change, saying that the warming conditions do not relieve the country of its duty to conduct certain preventative measures to manage its dense forests, such as forest thinning, brush removal, and small, controlled burns.
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More than 400 wildfires are currently burning in Canada, including more than 239 that are deemed to be “out of control,” Canadian Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair told reporters Wednesday. So far, the fires have torched 9.4 million acres in Canada — and are burning at a rate of roughly 15 times the 10-year average.
While the start of Canada's wildfire season officially begins in May, most large-scale fire activity traditionally begins in July, when the region gets warmer and drier.
"Over the last 20 years, we have never seen such a large area burned so early in the season," Yan Boulanger, a researcher with Natural Resources Canada, told Reuters. "Partially because of climate change, we're seeing trends toward increasing burned area throughout Canada."
What’s causing the fires?
Warm and dry conditions in Canada have put the country at heightened risk for wildfires. The country has also experienced dozens of lightning storms in recent weeks, primarily in Quebec, where many of the fires are burning, according to Anthony Farnell, the chief meteorologist at the Montreal-based Global News.
Lightning storms are linked to nearly half of all wildfires in Canada, according to government data, and on average represent 81% of total areas burned. The other half of wildfires in the country are caused by human activity.
And conditions across the country are drier. Data from the Canada Drought Monitor shows the 10 provinces experiencing the worst wildfires to date are all experiencing abnormal dryness, or "moderate to severe drought" conditions.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pointed to climate change as the culprit. "We're seeing more and more of these fires because of climate change," he wrote on Twitter. "These fires are affecting everyday routines, lives and livelihoods, and our air quality."
But others say this is only one part of the problem.
Canada's government has also faced years of sharp criticism for failing to invest more in forest management strategies, such as thinning its forests, removing dead wood and underbrush, or ordering small, prescribed burns when appropriate.
Such efforts have been adopted in other countries with dense forest areas. In recent years, the U.S. has also sought to secure more federal and state funds for fire prevention, primarily on the West Coast.
The U.S. Forest Service has set a goal of increasing forest treatment rates by between two- or four-fold. Last year, it joined with federal agencies in announcing a 10-year wildfire crisis response strategy in high-risk areas.
In 2021, following California’s heaviest wildfire season on record, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) approved an additional $2 billion in funding for wildfire preparedness and response efforts. The plan included thinning forests and removing dead trees, which account for 60% of California’s forests. It also hired more than 1,400 additional firefighters and began deploying ground crews earlier than usual to respond to early-season wildfires.
While wildfires are inevitable, critics say these efforts can go a long way in keeping wildfires from mushrooming in size.
That's especially important since Canada’s forests are also highly susceptible to burning. As much as 66% of Canada’s forest cover consists of softwood trees — or coniferous species such as spruce, pine, and fir — that have needles rather than leaves, which ignite much more rapidly.
Budget concerns
Some have also criticized provincial governments for not dedicating more funds to forest management and fire prevention efforts. Unlike the U.S., where both federal and state budgets can allocate resources to fire prevention and response, each province or territory in Canada has its own budget allocation for wildfires.
The amount each province sets aside can vary widely in scope, based on factors such as its size, estimated risk, and wildfire patterns from previous years. Alberta's wildfire budget stands at about $117 million, while British Columbia, another fire-prone area, allocated about $102 million annually.
According to a 2021 analysis from Natural Resources Canada, the country's total spending on wildfire protections has exceeded $1 billion for six of the last 10 years. “On average, costs have risen about $150 million per decade since data collection started in 1970,” it said.
This trend is also only expected to increase, the report notes, since costs for fire protection in Canada have risen by an average of $150 million per decade since the 1970s, when data collection began.
But by many accounts, Canada's leaders are not doing enough to respond to the rising crisis.
In the fire-prone area of Alberta, residents complained about the province's decision to ax their firefighting crews, as part of a broader budget cut — noting that these teams could have been instrumental in helping extinguish the current fires.
“We could have been difference-makers" in stopping some of the fires, which began in Alberta in early May, Jordan Erlandson, a former member of the aerial firefighting crew, told the Calgary City News.
"Wildfire management agencies in Canada are at a tipping point," the editorial board of Canada’s Globe and Mail wrote in 2021, urging the country to conduct more prescribed burns and forest thinning. “Presuppression and suppression costs are increasing but program budgets are not."
Fire crew shortages
The White House said Wednesday that it has deployed more than 600 firefighters to Canada to help fight the hundreds of wildfires that continue to burn through its dense forest landscape, overwhelming the country’s response teams, which are stretched thin across the country’s eastern and western provinces.
President Joe Biden has "directed his team to provide impacted communities whatever support they need,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a press briefing.
Other countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa have sent their own firefighting teams to Canada, and on Thursday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union member countries France, Portugal, and Spain were sending more than 280 firefighters to assist Canada in the firefighting efforts.
Quebec Premier François Legault, whose province is experiencing 150 wildfires, told reporters that the province only has enough personnel to respond to 40 fires without assistance. He told reporters he was hopeful that others would send crews to help in the coming days, both from the nearby Canadian province of New Brunswick, as well as the U.S., Spain, and Mexico.
“When I talk to the premiers of other provinces, they have their hands full,” Legault said, noting that many are busy fighting their own fires.
And some in the U.S. called on the Biden administration to do more to help its northern neighbor.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) urged Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday to double the number of firefighting personnel it is sending to Canada, saying in a floor speech that “the climate crisis is real and it is here to stay.”
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“We must take action against the climate crisis, both short-term and long-term," he added.