Opinion: Wildfires can start in many ways — but climate change supercharges them

Canada is experiencing longer, more intense fire seasons due to earlier snowmelt, prolonged droughts, extreme heat, and increasingly dry vegetation. These shifts create ideal conditions for frequent and severe wildfires. Climate attribution studies have directly linked the severity of recent fire seasons to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023, Canada experienced its worst wildfire season on record, with over 18 million hectares burned — six times the historical average. As of early June this year, large areas of Alberta, B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories have already burned, putting 2025 on track to become the second-worst season on record. Although the science is settled, a persistent false narrative circulates each summer that Canada’s worsening wildfires are caused by bad actors, not climate change.