With snow starting to fly, we wanted to see how the past year’s fires compared to previous years. On average, about 6,000 fires burn around 2.5 million hectares each year in Canada, and our warming climate means we can expect longer and more intense fire seasons. This season started on a wet note for much of Western Canada. British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan saw steady rain right into June. The damp start to the summer made a big dent in the wildfire season. Overall, Alberta saw more than 1,200 wildfires this year that burned about 153,000 hectares. Saskatchewan saw a slightly busier season, surpassing its five-year average for both number of fires and hectares burned. There were 443 wildfires this year compared to the five-year average of 379. This year BC saw over 1700 fires, a few more fires than the province’s 10-year average. Around 133,000 hectares burned, close to 300,000 hectares fewer than the 10-year average.