Below those are charts for each of the regions showing the total area burned during each decade between 1924-2023. In the case of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii, most of the fires occurred in the first half of the twentieth century and were likely the consequence of large amounts of unburned logging residue catching on fire as a result of human activity.
The upshot? There has been a dramatic increase in area burned over the last decade (compared with long-term levels) for four of the six regions. The area of BC east of the Rocky Mountains is the most intensely impacted by fires (in terms of percentage burned), followed by the southern Interior. Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii have seen very little area burned. When experts talk about “solutions”, they need to be place-based solutions since the magnitude and intensity of the problem varies greatly around the province.
Area burned in each region, 1924-2023
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