This has been the worst wildfire season on record. What could 2024 have in store?
'If next year is going to be a warmer year, I would expect that the dice will be loaded,'
says fire expert
What a summer that was — the hottest ever recorded globally and the worst for wildfires in Canadian history.
Dry conditions and warmer-than-usual temperatures helped fuel a long and unrelenting wildfire season that, to date, has burned more than 17,500,000 hectares, a 647 per cent increase over the 10-year average. Tens of thousands of residents were forced to flee, and six firefighters lost their lives battling the seemingly endless flames.
And the fires are still burning.
The question is, are there lessons to be learned? Can the devastating wildfires of 2023 help prepare us for 2024?
Heating up
The whole year is on track to be one of the hottest on record. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is a 93.42 per cent chance it will take the top spot and a 99.5 per cent chance it will at least be in the top five.
To put it in perspective, all of the hottest years in NOAA's 143-year record have occurred since 2010, with the last nine years being the nine warmest on record.
Added to that, we're also in the midst of an El Niño — a cyclical warming in the Pacific Ocean that, coupled with the atmosphere, can cause a rise in the global temperature — and that means next summer could see more of the same.
"We already broke various global temperature records in the summer," said Greg Flato, a senior research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC). "So my expectation is that we will break even more of those records next year."
What's more concerning however, is the increasing wildfire risk, particularly in British Columbia.
According to a recent study published in Nature Communications, four of the worst wildfire seasons in B.C. in the last 100 years have all occurred in the past seven years: 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2023.
Added to that, Canada's Changing Climate Report, released in 2019. found that as the planet continues to warm Canada will experience more extremes, including drought and wildfire risks.
For more info, please go to CBC at: There is some comfort knowing that
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About half of all wildfires are started by people, mostly accidentally. But there were accusations that many were started on purpose by environmentalists who want to exaggerate the issue of global warming. As unlikely as it seems, we take note that Greece has arrested 79 Muslim migrants for starting fires in what was a very bad fire season in that country. The motivation is different, but it speaks to the fact that people willingly set fires for their own reasons.
Most of the above story talks about strategies for fighting fires. That's all good, but what Canada really needs is an overall forestry strategy to prevent fires from starting, or from growing out of control once they start. A good part of this can be accomplised by strategic logging. A water-bomber dropping retardent on a logged corridor on the edge of a fire should be very effective in controlling that fires progress.
The story below is just one unique idea that can help fight forest fires before they begin, or to keep them from burning towns and cities.
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These goats are 'constantly eating' to prevent wildfires in the California countryside
Armed only with their appetites, a herd of goats can clear about an acre of brush in a day
Philip Drost · CBC Radio · Posted: Sep 26, 2023 3:10 PM PDT | Last Updated: September 26
munching on as much brush as they can. (Fire Grazers Inc.)
There's a crew of firefighters gaining renown for their work to keep California safe from wildfires. Each member of the team has a great work ethic, a mean appetite — and four legs.
"They're constantly eating. I mean, they've got several stomachs," Michael Choi, owner of Fire Grazers Inc., told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
"I like to say that they eat their food twice and that's how much they love to do it."
The goats' buffet turns into a buffer for potential wildfires. All that munching clears away the fuel a wildfire needs to spread.
Choi's business organizes a herd of about 900 goats that eat their way through the brush of California. He'll typically take a herd of 300 of them at a time, who can then eat up to an acre of brush a day.
And as North America recovers from one of its worst wildfire seasons ever, Choi says his goats are playing an important role in prevention.
Working with goats
While a common motto in Hollywood advises TV and film crews against working with animals, Choi says his goats are splendid workers.
They don't mind the heat, and don't need much more than water and their work to keep them happy, he said. They can handle whatever landscape is thrown at them, from grassy flat lands to steep slopes. They do need some protection, but Choi says a well-trained dog can keep predators away.
Choi also has to set up fences to make sure the goats stay eating where they are supposed to; otherwise they might end up in somebody's orchard.
"That's a constant conflict of us trying to say, hey, only eat this stuff," said Choi.
"They eat it pretty much as well as a fire department would require, down to like three inches of brush on the ground. And I mean, in the process, they also treat soil with their fertilizer and their hooves, and get it all nice and ready for the next rain."
And because a goat's digestive system is so intense, the seeds of any invasive plant species they chow down on won't have a chance at growing from that fertilizer.
Busy summer
Choi and the goats have had their work cut out for them this year. A deadly winter of rain has led to more plant growth across the state. Some years, Choi and the goats are done by September, but this year he estimates they will be working until November.
They've had so many requests for their services, Choi needed to get more goats. Choi and his goats have worked with cities, home owner associations, and conservancy organizations across California. But he says not enough people are preparing for the damage forest fires can do.
It's a practice that is being utilized in Canada as well. The city of Quesnel, B.C., started using goats this summer to chow down on invasive species and reduce wildfire fuel.
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