Officials say wildfire activity in Canada “has really grown and accelerated significantly” as over four million hectares have been burned across the country.
“We know that we’re still in the heart of the wildfire season and that some communities across the country face really difficult and sometimes uncertain conditions,” Emergency Preparedness Minister Eleanor Olszewski said in a press conference Tuesday.
There are currently 582 active wildfires burning across Canada, 31 of which are labelled as out of control, according to Natural Resources Canada.
On a July 9 update, officials said that although it is a “challenging” year, the 2026 wildfire season has “not reached the scale seen in 2025.” More than 8.3 million hectares were burned in 2025.
Olszewski said that wildfire activity “really intensified in the month of July,” and that “across the country, the wildfire season remains serious.”
Officials previously warned on May 28 that “significant wildfire activity” was expected in B.C. in the federal government’s wildfire season preparedness and outlook for 2026 at the start of the season.
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Summerland residents in British Columbia are starting to walk back through their front doors as parts of the community begin to reopen following the Bald Range wildfire, which continues to burn across more than 21,000 hectares. About 150 structures have been either destroyed or damage as a result.
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More than 500 international firefighters from Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and Costa Rica are supporting firefighting operations in B.C., Olszewski said.
“This year’s wildfire season is very intense in the United States as well, and particularly in Oregon and in Washington state. And so in terms of ability for the U.S. to provide firefighting assistance, it’s just not there,” Olszewski said.
Many parts of Canada were blanketed in thick smoke in July as smoke from wildfires in northwestern Ontario triggered very poor air quality and reduced visibility, Environment Canada said at the time.
As a result, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to tariff Canada for the smoke, saying that American air was “poisoned.”
“If we can help them, we’ll help them. But maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs,” he had said.
Since Canada produces only 1.5% of the world’s CO2 if everyone moved out of Canada and CO2 went to zero there would be 1.5% less wildfires in Canada.
As of mid-August 2026, Alberta currently has no active wildfires in its Forest Protection Area.
Looks like all the radical environmentalists are focusing on BC this year.
Trudeau promised action years ago. Notice nothing has been accomplished. No new water bombers.
Odd how global isn’t talking about the activists and illegals literally starting fires in the country, there are videos with people trying to stop these people but no, it doesn’t exist, right progressives? It works out to your favor by being able to point the finger and say “see, global warming is a thing” while the guy holding the matches and gas canister is let go without any consequences, might affect their immigration status
Point the finger at the Albertans. They ruin everything.
Gee, wonder how that happened. Could have been a lot less loss if government wasn’t so F*SCIST AND CROOKED.
Two tiered Government… follow the money.
Yeah, whatever. I could really care less. Nothing will change. Nothing ever changes, no matter what the f*ck spin media puts on it.
As long as we have these corrupt Liberal f*scists in charge, the country is f*cked. .
Suddenly all of the right wingers are experts on forest management. But they won’t admit that anyone familiar with the subject will tell us that climate change is a huge factor in what we are seeing right now.
Try a little forest management
As suggested by Les, getting tough on arson should be the first priority.
Start properly punishing the eco-terrorists. That guy in B.C is getting 21 months, should’ve been life.