Canada tries to adapt to a future of wildfires
Faced with another summer when wildfires have scorched millions of hectares of land and blankets of smoke have disrupted daily life nationwide, Canada is trying to limit the annual devastation.
Canada is grappling with the reality of increasingly frequent and severe wildfires, as the country experiences higher-than-average temperatures and a vast expanse of boreal forest. Last summer, nearly 18 million hectares of land were burned, an area larger than Syria. Despite investing CAD$317 million over five years to bolster aerial firefighting capabilities and clearing flammable material in populated areas, experts warn that Canada's vulnerability to these disasters remains high.
With fire clouds—intense blazes that generate their own wind and lightning—becoming more frequent, the challenge of containing these wildfires has never been greater. While efforts to develop a national aerial firefighting surge capacity and improve staffing have been made, continued development in fire-prone areas and the unpredictable nature of fire clouds place significant limits on Canada's ability to prevent and suppress these catastrophic events.
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