| Comments | British Columbia and its interior and south coast regions experienced exceptionally hot and dry weather in May and throughout the summer. For 2 consecutive years, the BC wildfire seasons were record-breaking. At the end of the season, there was a reported 2,091 fires that burned over 1.35 million hectares of land; more than the previous record. A provincial State of Emergency was declared on August 15th and eventually cancelled on September 7th.
In August during the peak of the fire season, over 10 million Canadians were exposed to exposed to smoke-polluted air – Calgary had 478 hours of smoke and haze which is almost 40 times their normal amount. |