Tracking Canada’s Extreme 2023 Fire Season

Wildland fire experts have described Canada’s 2023 fire season as record-breaking and shocking. Over the course of a fire season that started early and ended late, blazes have burned an estimated 18.4 million hectares—an area roughly the size of North Dakota. On average, just 2.5 million hectares burn in Canada each year. Many of Canada’s fires in 2023, ignited by summer lightning storms, burned for months in remote areas. This animation shows the largest Canadian fire in the FEDS database for 2023 as of September 19, 2023—a fire that had charred 1,224,938 hectares (4,730 square miles) in Quebec near the La Grande Reservoir 3. The fire stopped spreading in late July, around the time of the last frame shown in the animation. The expanding dark gray areas show the perimeters’ growth in 12-hour increments since June 1. Read the full story