#fires tw

Canada surpassed the record for area burned by wildfires in a single year Monday as hundreds of fires continued to blaze in almost every province and territory.

The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre reported Monday afternoon that 76,129 square kilometres of forest and other land has burned since Jan. 1. That exceeds the previous record set in 1989 of 75,596 square kilometres, according to the National Forestry Database.

Last week federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said he wasn’t "looking to break any records" but acknowledged it was likely coming. "Unfortunately the fire season this year started earlier and has been more widespread across the country than in recent memory," he said.

It took less than six months to surpass the previous record for an entire year. And in 1989, more than 11,000 different fires combined to create the total, with an average size of about seven square kilometres. This year, there have been less than 3,000 fires so far, but they have averaged about 26 square kilometres in size. [...]

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Nova Scotia has raised fines for burning to $25,000 as multiple wildfires continue to burn out of control in the province.

Despite the premier’s pleas to Nova Scotians Tuesday to “for God’s sake, stop burning,” eight illegally-lit fires were reported overnight in Halifax.

“Eight more reckless people decided to burn,” Tim Houston said Wednesday afternoon.

“I do not know what they are thinking. I just don’t get it with what’s happening in this province right now.”

The premier said if fires continue to be reported despite the newly raised fine, up to $25,000 from $237.50, his government will “do what we need to do to increase that” fine. [...]

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