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In-depth

Previous In-depths Landmark land settlement Carbon Conundrum Caribou in Canada The Mackenzie Delta Torngat Mountains Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) Travels with Louis British Columbia's Gulf Islands Moose on the loose Sustainable cities Icebergs Canada's musical landscape Quebec's James Bay Ottawa Valley Green with jade Hunting for cures Wild horses Canada's Bison Canada's place in the world Lessons learned in schools Power of powwows Cougars in Canada Greenland sharks Boreal birds Arctic grizzlies Lake Erie's Fire in the boreal forest Energy matters Parks for all Bighorn sheep Finding our way in the wilderness Shipwrecks of Nova Scotia Canada's grizzly bears

Contents Feature - Forest fires Let it burn! The forest of fire Smoke Jumper Canada's incendiary past GIS Safe campfire Facts Cartographer's table Games CG vault Re:sources

Did you know there are over 10,000 forest fires on average a year in Canada? That breaks down to 27 fires a day or, during the critical fire season — May to September — 65 fires daily. Considering the boreal and temperate forests cover approximately half of Canada's landmass, about 417 million hectares, it is easy to see why the federal government spends roughly $300 million annually fighting fires. Especially the big ones – large fires account for only one percent of the total number of fires in Canada, yet cause 90 percent of the burn area. The Northwest Territories, for example, ranks seventh out of Canada’s provinces and territories for number of burns, but have by far the largest average burn area in Canada (about two times as large as Saskatchewan’s burn area, which measures 420,000 hectares). Learn more about one of Canada’s worst natural disasters in this installment of Et cetera!

Average number of forest fires that occur annually in Canada: 10,100
Province with the greatest number on average: British Columbia (1,704)
Province with the least number on average: Prince Edward Island (22)

Percent of fires caused by people: 58%
Percent of fires caused by lightning: 42%

Average annual area burned in Canada: 2.5 million hectares
Total area of Prince Edward Island: 0.5 million hectares
Number of times burn area is larger than total area of Prince Edward Island: 4

Province with the largest burn area on average in hectares: Northwest Territories (805,700)
Province with the smallest burn area on average in hectares: Prince Edward Island (0.1)

Total area burned in hectares in 2002: 2,652,908
Total area burned by prescribed burns in hectares in 2002: 3,526
Total burn area attributed to prescribed burns: 0.13%

Total forested area in Canada: 417 million hectares
Forested area burned annually: 0.6%
Forested area harvested annually: 0.4%

General worth of Canada’s forestry industry: $47 billion
Amount spent annually on fighting forest fires: $300 million
Percent of forestry industry spent of fighting fires: 0.64%

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