Canada Wildfires by Year
How many forest fires does Canada report each year, and how much land burns? Explore the national trend from 1990 to 2024 — with cumulative totals, regional breakdowns, the record 2023 season, and decade comparisons — all from static Government of Canada data.
data.js file. Every number on this page is derived in the visitor's browser from that file — no database is queried when you view the dashboard.Wildfires over time
National area burned by year, 1990–2024
Key findings
- 2023 was the worst season on record. Canada reported 176,065 km² burned — more than double the previous record of 74,813 km² set in 1995 (2.4×). The Prairies (52,240 km²), Territories (47,677 km²), Quebec (42,883 km²) and British Columbia (28,425 km²) all burned heavily in the same year.
- The cumulative area is enormous. From 1990 to 2024 Canada burned roughly 1.04 million km² — an area comparable to the province of Ontario — across about 247,000 reported fires.
- Recent seasons are much larger per fire. The last five years (2020–24) averaged 57,700 km² burned per year, about 2.5× the 23,000 km²/year average of 1990–94 — and this happened with roughly half as many reported fires.
- The Prairies and Territories dominate area burned at 40% and 31% of the 35-year total, yet they account for only 33% and 5% of fire counts — northern and grassland fires typically cover vast areas per event.
- British Columbia leads in fire frequency (26.5% of all reported fires), with severe seasons in 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023 and 2024.
- Interannual swings are extreme. After the quiet 2020 season (just 2,183 km² burned — the least of the series), Canada burned 176,065 km² three years later in 2023.
Area burned by year (national)
Bars highlight 1995 and 2023.
Reported fires by year (national)
Counts peaked in the late 1990s.
Share of area burned by region
1990–2024 cumulative.
Worst years by area burned
Top five national seasons.
Area burned by decade
Five-year 2020–24 vs full decades.
Year-by-year data
National figures, plus each region's fires and area burned (km²). Scroll within the table.
| Year | Fires | Area km² | Atlantic F | Atlantic A | Quebec F | Quebec A | Ontario F | Ontario A | Prairies F | Prairies A | BC F | BC A | Territories F | Territories A |
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Sources & methodology
Figures come from the Government of Canada's Canadian Environmental Sustainability Indicators program (Environment and Climate Change Canada / National Forestry Database), published as annual forest-fire counts and area burned by region for 1990–2024. Fires include those of known and unknown origin. The Territories region covers Yukon, Northwest Territories and (historically) Nunavut reporting; area is reported in square kilometres. The dataset is converted to static data.js at build time; all analysis is recomputed client-side.