The 2015 Canadian wildfires were a series of wildfires across Canada. The western provinces of Canada experienced an unprecedented high number of wildfires and hectares burned. In 2015, Canada recorded 6,765 wildfires and 3,969,504 hectares burned.[1]
With aggressive wildfire activity in June and July, the Canadian government agencies enlisted the support of international agencies to assist in management of the extreme forest fire conditions of 2015. Representatives from five countries, including United States, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, all came to assist the relief efforts.[2]
Causes
editThe major factors of the severe wildfire situation were weather conditions, dead grass, winds and lightning. Dead, dry grass were particularly flammable, due to high temperatures and lack of rain. Meanwhile, fires spread very quick with forest fuels in windy situations.[1][3] Moreover, lightning further deteriorated the situation.[3]
Wildfire progression
editThe wildfire season in Alberta in 2015 was unprecedented and began earlier than before.[1] It started at 1st March and ended at October 31st.[4][5] By May 21st, the wildfire hazard in the High Level Wildfire Management Area (HLWMA) was EXTREME. A fire restriction started in effect.[6] As for July 10th, the wildfire hazard dropped because of rain.[7] By October 31st, HLWMA had 333 wildfires and totalled 1,773 wildfire recorded, which was such a large figure that only had been exceeded twice since 1990, with 491,802 hectares burned.[1][8]
Wildfire Hazard[9]
| Date | April 24 | May 21 | July 10 | August 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | MODERATE | EXTREME | HIGH | MODERATE |
Response Effort
editFirst Responders
editThe 2015 fire season pushed the system to its limit in terms of engaging resources in a situation where other jurisdictions were also demanding resources. Fire suppression cost $198,561,059 in total, which is split-up into services and equipment ($43,631,328), manpower ($28,871,381) and aircraft ($126,058,350) costs.[1] They mobilised just short of 2000 personnel in the 2015 fire season.[10] As a result, they contained 92.7% of wildfire in the first burning period, and 95.6% in the second burning period. The 2015 Fire season and wildfire management program review concluded that fire suppression was ‘well-defined and well-executed’.[1]
However, more than 13,000 people were forced from their homes due to northern Saskatchewan blazes, according to Red Cross.[3] The Canadian Red Cross, as of the 9th July 2015, had assisted more than 7,800 people that have been evacuated from the province’s northern region, with a total of 280 trained Red Cross personnel from across Canada on the ground for the response with many others coordinating from a distance.[11] The situation forced the Saskatchewan government to bring in a Sikorsky S-64 skycrane from Montana, and the deployment of an immediate response team of 500 members from the Canadian Armed Forces.[3]
Political Response
edit
The political response to the wildfires was mixed. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited a local crew near West Kelowna, B.C. The Prime Minister, with Premier Christy Clark, toured an area affected by the fires. Speaking to the media on the visit, Harper said "We know these are tough and are sometimes dangerous jobs and these efforts really are appreciated by everybody."[12] Looking forward to the future, Harper told reporters that he had spoken with Ms Clark and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall about improving methods of fire fighting.
Impact
editProvincial
editAll provinces in Canada were impacted by forest fires in the 2015 season but the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan experienced unprecedented numbers of wildfires and hectares burned. The province of Alberta had 306 wildfires early in the season, which was 100 wildfires above historic averages and was the first indicator of an early and above normal forest fire season.[13] Higher than normal winter and early spring temperatures in Alberta, as well as low precipitation averages across all the Western Canadian provinces was noted.[14] The province of Saskatchewan experienced 292 wildfires above the 10-year average for the province.[13]
| Province | Causes of the Fires | Total Hectares burned | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Human | Total | ||
| British Columbia | 1,235 | 601 | 1,836 | 280,445 |
| Alberta | 771 | 1,079 | 1,850 | 492,536 |
| Saskatchewan | 379 | 344 | 723 | 1,758,376 |
Socioeconomic
editDuring the 2015 wildfires, almost 18,000 people were evacuated in approximately 80 evacuation events.[15] A large portion of the total evacuees number belongs to the indigenous peoples who are disproportionately affected by the wildfires since they often live in remote areas in the forest and depend on the forest for cultural, sustenance, and employment purposes.[15][16]
The province with the highest number of evacuees for 2015 season was Saskatchewan, including communities of La Ronge, Air Ronge andthe Lac La Ronge Indian band, where the fires forced 13,000 people to leave their homes – making it the largest evacuation in the Saskatchewan history.[11]
In British Columbia, 1,144 homes were evacuated (approximately 3,432 individuals), and over 50 structures were destroyed, the highest number since 2003, throughout the province, with major losses at Puntzi Lake and Rock Creek during 2015 wildfire season.[17][18][19]
Wildfires also resulted in road closures which negatively impacted the oilsands, conventional oil, and gas industry in Alberta. Moreover, the damage to the forests and the forestry industry culminated into a total cost of almost $20 million CAD for remedial reforestation and reclamation work funded by the Alberta province.[2]
Health
editMetro Vancouver issued an air quality advisory due to the extensive numbers of particulates and smoke in the air from the wildfire.[20] Air quality advisories were issued in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.[14][21][22] The advisories encouraged elderly, infants, individuals with chronic illness to all remain indoors and for healthy individuals to avoid outdoor strenuous activities to mitigate the risk of decreased respiratory function.[23] In 2015, there were two fatalities due to the wildfires identified nationally.[13]
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Environmental
editBurned soil and tree roots need a long time to recover with complexly different species.[24] Ashes and deeply burned organic soils which have high heat, may smoulder under snow leading to more fires. Moreover, wildfires produce air pollutants, polluting a quite large area of Canada and the United States. [25]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Review of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's Wildfire Management Program and the 2015 Fire Season. Volume 1: Summary Report" (PDF). MNP LLP. December 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) Cite error: The named reference ":0" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ a b "Review of Alberta Agriculture and Forestry's Wildfire Management Program and the 2015 Fire Season" (PDF). MNP Limited. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ a b c d Government, Alberta. "High Level Area Update". srd.web.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-20. Cite error: The named reference ":1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Ostendorf, Victoria. "FIRE SEASON STARTS MARCH 1st". srd.web.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ Ostendorf, Victoria. "Wildfire season ended October 31". srd.web.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ Ostendorf, Victoria. "Fire restriction in effect for the High Level Wildfire Management Area". srd.web.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ Burke, Kelly. "Rain showers drop the wildfire hazard to high". srd.web.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ Ostendorf, Victoria. "Be cautious as frost killed grass, burns fast". srd.web.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ Government, Alberta. "High Level Area Update". srd.web.alberta.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ "By the numbers: A look at the 2015 Canadian forest fire season". Global News. Retrieved 2019-10-16.
- ^ a b "Red Cross provides relief as Saskatchewan fires force 13,000 from homes". Canadian Red Cross. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ "Harper thanks crews fighting out-of-control wildfire in B.C." Retrieved 2019-10-16.
- ^ a b c d "Canada Report 2015" (PDF). Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Review of Alberta Agricultural and Forestry Management Program and the 2015 Fire Season Detailed report" (PDF). MNP LLP. December 2016. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b "Wildland Fire Evacuations in Canada" (PDF). Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ "Social aspects of wildfire management". Natural Resources Canada. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ "Canadian Disaster Database". Public Safety Canada. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ "2015 B.C. fire season one of the worst in past decade". CBC News. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ "2015 Wildfire Season Summary". British Columbia. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ "B.C. wildfire smoke visible from space as air quality worsens | CTV News". bc.ctvnews.ca. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ "Metro Vancouver Issues Air Quality Advisory Due to Smoke from Wildfires". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. July 5, 2015. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Wildfires continue to choke Saskatchewan; air quality statements continue". Global News. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ Robinson, Tara Carman, Brian Morton and Matt. "Smoke break: Sea breeze clearing up Metro Vancouver's wildfire haze". www.vancouversun.com. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Leahy, Stephen (2016-05-11). "Canada wildfire - what are the environmental impacts?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
- ^ "Canadian Wildfires Produce River of Smoke". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 2015-07-01. Retrieved 2019-10-24.