Canadians are taking dramatic steps to avoid more ruinous firestorms

Wildfires scorched 185,000 square km (71,000 square miles) of Canada in 2023, an area bigger than Florida. The resulting pall forced millions indoors during the height of summer. The fires also pumped 1,800 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere, dwarfing Canada’s total emissions in 2022 of 708 megatonnes. Locals called the blazes Frankenstein fires “that crawl or sprint along like some diabolical monster”. “The fires defy models,” says John MacLean, chief administrative officer of nearby Columbia Shuswap District. “They are alien to experience.”