Forest Fires In Canada

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4.0 Results 4.1 Total Fires Burned
There were 9323 separate forest fires that occurred from the start of 2005 till the end of 2014. which resulted in a total area of 12,356,894.538 hectares of burned forest and affected land.

4.2 Fires per-year and Area Burned per-year
The year that saw the most forest fires between 2005 and 2014 in the western provinces was 2010 with 1348 fires. As well as having the most fires 2010 also saw the greatest amount of surface area burned, with 2,429,289.909 hectares of land being burned. The year with the least forest fires was 2005 seeing a total of 478 fires and 372,473.408 hectares burned. However despite the low number of fires 2005 did not have the least surface area burned. Out of the ten years studied …show more content…

31 percent of forest fires were caused by human actions. 14 percent of fires were had unknown origins or were prescribed burns and re-burns. According to Gillett ,N.P paper: “Detecting the effect of climate change on Canadian forest fires”, forest fires in Canada ignited by lightning strikes account for 88% of all area burned. My findings have found that this statistic is also true for the western provinces of Canada because 88.7 percent of all area burned by forest fires in the study were caused by lightning strikes. Based on the fact that a large proportion of forest fires in Canada are caused by lightning strikes it should be possible to get an understanding of where forest fires are likely to be ignited by thunder when looking at weather forecasting and previous precipitation in the area. The amount of damage done to the 29 populated places in the past ten years would have experienced varying amounts of damage. Depending on how much of the town was affected an the types of urban developments that were present at the time of the fire. The number of people affected also depends on the size of the town and the area burned by the fire. Fires burning near residential neighbourhoods would result in many people being evacuated from their homes. In July of 2015, 10,000 people had to be removed from their homes in northern Saskatchewan due to increased forest fire activity. (CBC News- …show more content…

A greater study sample may have resulted in the discovery of more trends regarding the increase in forest fires over time likely because of climate change. The change in climate that has occurred since the earliest recorded forest fire in the data set in 1917 till 2014, is likely much more significant then the changes from 2005 to 2014. However data inconsistencies in the accuracy of data recored in the past would have to be taken into account in this circumstance as well as increased computer processing lengths due to larger amounts of data. Further studies could be done comparing temperature and forest fire data over a period of time. For example average temperature data for the western provinces, over a ten year period compared to the number area of burnt land. A study like this may have made it possible to more definitively understand how climate change is effecting the severity and number of forest fires in Canada. However to complete such a project, would have require large amounts of data and time that is unavailable to myself.
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