2025 wildfire season one of the worst on record, and it's not over yet: government
And it's expected to continue through September.
Hot temperatures combined with dry conditions have led to one of the most severe wildfire seasons on record, the report said, and western Canada has been 'disproportionately' impacted, with the region having the most area burned so far.
The fires have led to multiple air quality warnings issued throughout parts of the country.
How bad are the wildfires in 2025?
The National Preparedness Level classifies the amount of national resources committed to an area, as well as the demand for interagency resources through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC), according to Natural Resources Canada.
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As of July 18, the National Preparedness Level is at 5, the highest on the scale. Specifically, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are at Level 5, while most other provinces and territories are at Level 3.
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Currently, there are 561 active wildfires in Canada, compared to 544 on July 17, with 69 considered 'Out of Control,' the report says.
Although Manitoba, Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory have recorded the most fires so far in 2025, British Columbia and Alberta currently have the highest number of fires with a 'Full Response.'
And more than 5.5 million hectares have been burned since the start of January through to July 18 — more than double the 10-year average of 2.12 million.
The report says higher than normal temperatures and below average rainfall may be key factors that have contributed to the intense and frequent wildfires in regions most impacted.
In the period from July 2024 to June 2025, temperatures were higher than normal across most of Canada, while B.C. saw close to normal values. In the month of June 2025, regions along the U.S. border were reported as having above normal temperatures.
Drought conditions were seen consistently across Canada over the past 12 months, and this has been the case for more than two years, the briefing says. Meanwhile, from April to June of 2025, 'significantly lower than normal' rainfall was seen from B.C across to northwestern Ontario.
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Eastern regions saw higher than normal precipitation levels from April to June of 2025.
1:56
Air quality alerts issued as wildfire smoke sweeps across central Canada
Will the situation improve later this season?
At the end of June, Environment and Climate Change Canada projected a high probability of above normal temperatures for 'nearly all Canadian regions,' from July to September. Precipitation levels, too, are forecasted to be below normal for B.C. and the Prairies.
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More immediately, the rest of July is expected to continue seeing an elevated fire danger throughout western Canada, with the highest fire danger focused on the southern part of Northwest Territories due to ongoing dry conditions.
In August, above average summer temperatures are expected to continue for most of Canada, the report says, with most of eastern Canada expected to see more rainfall, and likely a lower wildfire risk overall.
B.C. is expected to have the highest fire danger in August, which is somewhat consistent compared to previous reports.
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Global News
8 hours ago
- Global News
After 2011 wildfire, Slave Lake better prepared amid current evacuation alert
A northern Alberta community that's no stranger to the devastation of a wildfire is on standby to flee if needed. After lightning from a thunderstorm sparked a fire on Sunday in the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River, an evacuation alert was issued both for the rural area surrounding the blaze, as well as for the town of Slave Lake — which was razed by one of Alberta's costliest wildfires in 2011. At the time, nearly 400 homes and businesses, including an apartment complex and town hall, were reduced to ash and rubble when fierce winds whipped flames through the town north of Edmonton with little warning. Damages were pegged at $700 million — one of the country's costliest disasters until the Fort McMurray wildfire happened out four years later. The fire burning now is about 20 kilometres northeast of Slave Lake and 12 kilometres to the east of Marten Beach. Story continues below advertisement View image in full screen The SWF149 wildfire near Slave Lake, Alta., broke out on Sunday, July 20, 2025. Alberta Wildfire 'It grew to about 40 hectares within two hours, which is pretty significant growth for a fire in under two hours,' said Ryan Coutts, deputy fire chief with the Lesser Slave Regional Fire Service. 'It's just under 20 kilometres from Slave Lake right now, and then some other subdivisions that we're watching, just over 10 kilometres to some of those subdivisions north of Slave Lake.' An Alberta Emergency Alert is in effect for the town of Slave Lake, including properties along Devonshire Road North and everyone in the MD of Lesser Slave River located in the Hamlet of Marten Beach, Summerwood, Township Road 740 and Gillwood Golf Course. Everyone in the town and on properties along Devonshire Road North must be prepared to evacuate within eight hours' notice. Everyone close to the fire in the MD of Lesser Slave River needs to be ready to flee within four hours. Story continues below advertisement 2:06 Slave Lake fire: 5 years later 'Generally we set trigger points for what we are seeing that fire do and then how much time we need or we think we need to get everyone out safely. You know, lessons learned from 2011 to try and not have that mass chaos and get people out safely with not as much panic as possible, I guess,' Coutts said. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The town aims to give residents as much advance notice as possible so they can be prepared. 'Yes, it is a stressful situation. Yes, people are gonna be nervous and anxious, but the point of trying to give that information early is so that people can go and get gas and can pack some things up and can have the time to do that and kind of process rather than doing it at the last second,' Coutts said. 2:01 Looking ahead to Alberta's wildfire season Cooler temperatures and rain on Monday have helped reduce the fire activity, but that relief is expected to be temporary with return of hot and dry conditions later this week. Story continues below advertisement The out-of-control wildfire and related evacuation alerts can be triggering to resident who experienced the devastating 2011 fire – however the opposite is also true. Some Slave Lake residents say they are almost desensitized, and lack a sense of urgency because there's so many emergency alerts nowadays. 'We get so many of them that you start to kind of not pay a whole lot of attention to them,' said Laura Somerville, adding they are prepared in the event they do have to flee on short notice. ' You have your little box ready to go with all your important information in it and so on.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: " You have your little box ready to go with all your important information in it and so on." Residents have seen an increase in water bomber activity in the area in the past 24 hours with crews scooping up water from Lesser Slave Lake. Somerville's husband works in forestry. She said they have an inside scoop on whether a fire like the one that started on Sunday is something to be worried about or not. 'He wasn't super worried about it,' Somerville said. 'We've got really good firefighting crews and everybody was on it like immediately, so you become a little less worried for that reason I think because we know there's good people taking care of us.' Coutts said the emergency alert system isn't perfect and the criteria for when alerts are sent, and who gets them, could be refined so they aren't ignored. Story continues below advertisement The 2011 blaze was, at the time, was one of the worst in Canadian history and prompted a visit from the newlyweds William, Prince of Wales and his wife Catherine. View image in full screen The Duke And Duchess of Cambridge inspect a fire damaged car as they walk through Slave Lake, Alta., on July 6, 2011. Photo by Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images In the nearly 15 years since the Slave Lake wildfire, the community has made changes from lessons observed at home and elsewhere. One such change: modifying fire trucks so they can be more responsive to wildfires, not just structure fires in town. 'The ladder truck, for example, didn't have any forestry hose on it because generally a ladder truck is not used to fight forest fires. We've seen that where we had to use absolutely everything that we had,' Coutts said. 'So little tweaks like that to equipment, trucks and equipment being specifically bought with some of those applications in mind.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "So little tweaks like that to equipment, trucks and equipment being specifically bought with some of those applications in mind." Story continues below advertisement There's also more joint training. 'We have really good training for wildland firefighters, we have good training for structural firefighters but in the last 10 years, how do we bring those together so that people can be safe in these environments where wildland fires are coming into communities?' Coutts said strong mutual aid agreements with surrounding communities and Alberta Wildfire crews is also key. 'We can pull resources from probably five counties pretty easily with just phone calls,' he said, adding firefighters from across Alberta pitch in to help when needed. 'We had a crew from 40 Mile County, which is down by Lethbridge, up here this year for a wildfire,' he said. 'It's awesome that everyone's willing to help, especially from southern Alberta when maybe they're wet and we're dry up here.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's awesome that everyone's willing to help, especially from southern Alberta when maybe they're wet and we're dry up here." Story continues below advertisement The fire risk on Monday was moderate, down from very high on Sunday when conditions were hot and dry. As of Monday afternoon, the wildfire near Slave Lake had only grown about four hectares overnight. Firefighters in helicopters and airtankers responded, Alberta Wildifre said, explaining heavy equipment built containment line around the fire and night vision-equipped helicopters and firefighters worked overnight. Rain reduced fire activity on Monday as additional firefighters and heavy equipment were enroute to help. So far in 2025, Alberta Wildfire said there have been 147 wildfires reported in the Slave Lake Forest Area, burning a total of 378,250 hectares. 1:59 Jasper mayor stands by report critical of province's wildfire response: 'Not a political statement' — with files from Lisa MacGregor, Global News
Vancouver Sun
10 hours ago
- Vancouver Sun
From potatoes to cocoa and coffee, severe weather spikes food prices worldwide, study finds
In 2021, crops withered as Western Canadian farmers faced the worst drought in 19 years. Wheat stocks dropped 38.7 per cent year over year in its wake. By April 2022, food manufacturers were paying more than double what they were in 2020, and that cost had trickled down to consumers. According to Statistics Canada , shoppers spent more on bread (+12.2 per cent), pasta (+19.6 per cent) and cereals (+13.9 per cent) than they had the year prior. This summer, conditions are worse for farmers in southwestern Saskatchewan. Some are comparing growing conditions to the ' Dirty Thirties ,' an extended drought that ravaged crops on the Prairies. Hit with wildfires, heat waves and drought, several rural municipalities have declared states of emergency, CTV News reports. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The impact of severe weather on Canadian wheat prices is far from an isolated case. From Japanese rice to Spanish olive oil , countries around the world have experienced similar food price spikes resulting from extreme weather events, highlights new research by a team of international scientists led by Maximillian Kotz, a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center . Published in Environmental Research Letters , the study investigated 16 foods in 18 countries over two years (2022-2024). It found that foods affected by climatic extremes (heat, drought or floods) raised prices for consumers, contributed to overall inflation and could trigger societal risks. In 2023, Kotz led a statistical analysis for the European Central Bank examining the impact of increased temperatures on inflation. The researchers studied a global dataset of monthly consumer price indexes over the last 30 years to understand how prices respond to shifting conditions. 'What we found is very strong evidence that abnormally high temperatures drive increases in the price of food and overall inflation, and that therefore, under future climate change, with heat extremes intensifying, we're going to be expecting to see more and more of these kind of increases in consumer price indexes, broadly,' Kotz said in a media briefing on July 16, adding that these findings were the starting point for the new study. While their econometric analysis confirmed that severe weather results in higher food prices, changes in consumer price indexes typically happen slowly. In contrast, the cost of specific foods can spike within one to two months of extraordinarily high temperatures or droughts. 'What's been really interesting for us scientifically is that over the last year, what we've started to see is a number of examples from specific countries where climatic extremes have caused substantial spikes in the price of specific food goods. So, not just looking at the level of an aggregate consumer price index, but for specific goods.' For example, in a phenomenon dubbed 'heatflation,' South Korean cabbage prices rose 70 per cent last year amid hot weather and drought. With water temperatures rising, seafood prices also increased due to fewer catches. The researchers began their investigations by looking at media reports from 2020 to 2025, in which industry specialists and producers documented changes in food prices. They found instances around the world. 'Compared to our analysis with the European Central Bank, that was very much a statistical approach, this was more of a narrative-based approach, relying on these experts on the ground to connect food price spikes with adverse climatic conditions. And we can see that there's a broad global context for this happening in recent years that extends all the way from East Asia through to Europe and also to North America.' After finding evidence that food price shocks associated with extreme heat, drought or heavy precipitation are widespread, the researchers analyzed the climatic conditions driving them and compared them to historical patterns. Following a May 2024 heatwave in India , for example, onion and potato prices increased by 89 and 81 per cent respectively in the second quarter of the year. In California and Arizona, vegetable prices jumped by 80 per cent in November 2022 after a drought. Given that the U.S. supplies 67 per cent of Canada's vegetable imports and 36 per cent of fruit imports, according to Kushank Bajaj , a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia (who wasn't involved in the study) and co-creator of Canada Food Flows , the impact on consumers clearly stretches across borders. The price fluctuations of commodities such as coffee, cocoa and olive oil travel even further. In Ivory Coast and Ghana, global cocoa prices soared 280 per cent in April 2024 following a heatwave two months earlier. A team of international scientists found that this 'dangerous humid heat' was roughly four degrees hotter due to climate change. In Vietnam, the world's biggest exporter of robusta coffee, prices increased 100 per cent in September 2024 after an August heatwave. And in Brazil, the leading exporter of arabica, prices were 55 per cent higher in August 2024 following a 2023 drought. 'What we were quite interested to see was that, particularly for East Asia, last summer, really, across the continent, from India to China, Korea, Japan, there were these spikes in the price of food happening as a result of temperatures that were completely unprecedented from a historical perspective,' said Kotz. The researchers also investigated the potential societal impacts of climate-induced food price spikes, including food security and public health. When food prices go up, fruit and vegetable consumption is 'very vulnerable,' underscored study co-author Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation . 'Food-insecure households are much more likely to report cutting back on fruit and veg purchases compared to food-secure households,' said Taylor. 'That really, really matters for health, because fruit and vegetables are sort of health-giving, if you like. They are massively important for immunity, but they also create long-term protections from a whole range of chronic conditions.' In addition to contributing to overall inflation, the authors identify political unrest as another potential societal risk. 'Our paper is really a call to action for us to consider these wider effects of food price increases in response to climate change for our societies more widely, as these effects are going to continue to become worse in the future,' said Kotz. A figure in the study maps the 16 examples of climate-induced food price spikes since 2022, colour coded by degree and type of event (heat, drought and floods). 'If you looked at Max's global picture, what you'd see through the eyes of an economist is well-functioning markets,' said Raj Patel, a member of the IPES-Food panel and a research professor at the University of Texas at Austin , who wasn't involved in the study. 'The weather turns, the crop becomes less likely to come out of the ground, and prices spike. But there is a political-economic consequence for that.' The researchers note that food price volatility has been linked to political instability throughout history, such as 2011's Arab Spring and the French and Russian revolutions of the 18th and 20th centuries. 'The meaning of food price inflation is political. It's always political,' said Patel. He cites Mozambique's 2010 bread riots , the roots of which were planted in Russia, where wildfires burned during the country's worst heatwave in more than a century. A lack of firefighting infrastructure made it difficult to put them out, and the country's main growing areas were decimated. As a result, Russia imposed an embargo on wheat exports, and global prices surged. People died due to the wildfires in Russia and during protests, sparked by sky-high bread prices, on the streets of Mozambique . 'This is how a heat spike in Russia can cause deaths by live ammunition in Mozambique,' adds Patel. 'These are the kinds of arcs that we need to be looking for when we understand climate change. Because climate change isn't just, 'Oh, it's hot outside.' Climate change is always freighted with a political valence.' Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our cookbook and recipe newsletter, Cook This, here .
Global News
17 hours ago
- Global News
Manitoba to provide wildfire update Monday afternoon
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook The Manitoba government is set to provide the latest update on the province's wildfire situation Monday afternoon. Kristin Hayward, assistant deputy minister, Conservation Officer Service and Manitoba Wildfire Service, will be joined by Christine Stevens, assistant deputy minister, Manitoba Emergency Management Organization. They'll speak to media at 12:45 p.m. from the Manitoba legislature. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy During an update last Thursday, the province said there were 118 wildfires burning across Manitoba. Global News will stream the press conference live on this page. Story continues below advertisement
