Large stretches of the Arctic are carbon-rich peat bogs. As the region warms and dries, lightning strikes can spark underground fires that can burn for years.
Decisions made by those in charge of wildfire response can have a major impact on how quickly the fire is contained.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Zombie fires smoulder through the winter and reignite in the early spring. How these fires behave is not well understood, but they can contribute to an earlier and longer fire season.
Parents, caregivers and educators must encourage their children to talk about and understand climate change before participating in climate action.
(Shutterstock)
Discussing climate change with children is important, and the three Es can help facilitate these discussions.
Canada and the United States are dealing with unprecedented levels of smoke from wildfires, and forest management practices and climate change are only partly to blame.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Many response decisions to crises cannot be made in advance because each event is unique and has its own specific characteristics. But it is still possible to prepare for the future.
Smoke rises from a brush fire near Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles in 2007.
Hector Mata/AFP via Getty Images
Nearly 22 million people lived within 3 miles of a US wildfire in the past two decades. A new study tracking their locations flips the script on who is at risk.
An adult male orangutan contemplates his next move in haze produced by Indonesia’s 2015 wildfires.
Wendy Erb
Kevin Trenberth, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
2016 was the world’s warmest year on record, due in part to a very strong El Niño event. But 2023 (and 2024) could beat that record – what should we expect?
The Sudbury 17 wildfire burns east of Mississagi Provincial Park near Elliot Lake, Ont., in this June 4, 2023 handout photo.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Creating a federal agency — let’s call it the Emergency Management Agency of Canada or EMAC — would support comprehensive emergency management as Canada faces more and more natural disasters.
A wildfire spreads in British Columbia.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, BC Wildfire Service
A ‘greenhushing’ campaign is targeting insurers, who have the power to accelerate the transition to cleaner energy in how they write policies and invest.
Thick plumes of heavy smoke fill the Halifax sky as an out-of-control fire in a suburban community quickly spreads, engulfing multiple homes and forcing the evacuation of local residents on May 28, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kelly Clark
Fireworks can frighten wild and domestic animals, start wildfires and affect some people’s mental health.
Wildfire warning signage seen in the Blairmore area, about two hours south of Calgary, Alta., in this handout image provided by the Government of Alberta Fire Service.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
School systems need to wake up from ‘business as usual’ learning. Teachers can draw on terror management theory in their work on the front lines with students navigating the climate crisis.
Wildfire smoke filled the air at Chicago’s Wrigley Field on June 27, 2023.
AP Photo/Kim Johnson
Fires in Canada have sent smoke across several US states, leaving cities including New York, Chicago and Denver with some of the worst air quality in the world – even far from the flames.
Professor of Civil, Environmental & Ecological Engineering, Director of the Healthy Plumbing Consortium and Center for Plumbing Safety, Purdue University
Wildfire Specialist at the University of California Cooperative Extension; Adjunct Professor Bren School of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara