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This is a list of fires in Canada. Numbers for buildings only include those destroyed, and area is given in hectares and is converted to acres.
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This is a list of fires in Canada. Numbers for buildings only include those destroyed, and area is given in hectares and is converted to acres.
| Article | Location | Province | Date | Deaths | Damage | Buildings | Area in ha/a | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1825 Miramichi fire | Northern New Brunswick |  New Brunswick | Oct 1825 | 160 to 300 | 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 hectares (2,500,000 to 4,900,000 acres) | A series of wildfires. [1] | ||
| Fire in Quebec City | Quebec City | Province of Canada (Quebec) | May 1845 | 20 | $1 million | 100+ | [2] | |
| Fire in Quebec City | Quebec City | Province of Canada (Quebec) | Jun 1845 | 40 | $1.5 million | 1,200 | [2] | |
| Great Fire of 1846 | St. John's | Newfoundland | Jun 1846 | 3 | £888,356 | 600 hectares (1,500 acres) | ||
| Fire in Toronto | Toronto | Province of Canada (Upper Canada) | Apr 1849 | $500,000 | [2] | |||
| Fire in Montreal | Montreal | Province of Canada (Quebec) | Jun 1850 | 0 | $500,000 | 100 | [2] | |
| Great Fire of 1852 | Montreal | Province of Canada (Quebec) | Jul 1852 | 0 | $5 million | 1,200 [2] | Nearly half of city's housing destroyed. | |
| Great Fire of Quebec City | Quebec City | Province of Canada (Quebec) | Oct 1866 | $3 million | 2,500 | [2] | ||
| Saguenay Fire | Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Quebec |  Quebec | May 1870 | 7 | 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) | Nearly 1/3 of the population lost everything. | ||
| Fire in Quebec City | Quebec City | Quebec | May 1876 | $800,000 | 700 | [2] | ||
| Fire in Saint-Jean | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu | Quebec | Jun 1876 | $2.5 million | [2] | |||
| Fire in Saint-Hyacinthe | Saint-Hyacinthe | Quebec | Sep 1876 | $1.25 million | 583 | [2] | ||
| Great Fire of Saint John | Saint John |  New Brunswick | Jun 1877 | 19 | $28 million | 1,612 | [3] | |
| Fire in Hamilton | Hamilton |  Ontario | Aug 1879 | $500,000 | [2] | |||
| Fire in Quebec City | Quebec City | Quebec | Jun 1881 | $2 million | 800 | [2] | ||
| Fire in Toronto | Toronto | Ontario | Jan 1885 | $700,000 | [2] | |||
| Great Vancouver Fire | Vancouver |  British Columbia | Jun 1886 | 24 to 28 [4] | $1.3 million | |||
| Calgary Fire of 1886 | Calgary |  North-West Territories (now Alberta) | Nov 1886 | 0 | $103,200 | |||
| Great Fire of 1892 | St. John's |  Newfoundland | Jul 1892 | $13 million | ||||
| Simpson's fire in Toronto | Toronto | Ontario | Jan 1895 | $600,000 | [2] | |||
| Fire in Windsor | Windsor |  Nova Scotia | Oct 1897 | $4 million | Most of the town destroyed. [2] | |||
| Fire in New Westminster | New Westminster |  British Columbia | Sep 1898 | $2 million | [2] | |||
| Warehouse fire in Montreal | Montreal | Quebec | Dec 1898 | $8 million | [2] | |||
| Warehouse fire in Montreal | Montreal | Quebec | Jan 1900 | $2.5 million | [2] | |||
| 1900 Hull–Ottawa fire | Hull | Quebec | Apr 1900 | 7 | $7.5 million | Destroyed 2/3 of Hull. [2] | ||
| Fire in Sydney | Sydney | Nova Scotia | Oct 1901 | $500,000 | 60+ | [2] | ||
| Fire in Ottawa | Ottawa | Ontario | May 1903 | $500,000 | 300+ | [2] | ||
| Fire in Saint-Hyacinthe | Saint-Hyacinthe | Quebec | May 1903 | $500,000 | 400+ | [2] | ||
| Great Toronto Fire | Toronto | Ontario | Apr 1904 | $13 million | [2] | |||
| Fire in Trois-Rivières | Trois-Rivières | Quebec | Jun 1908 | $2 million | [2] | |||
| Fire in Fernie | Fernie | British Columbia | Aug 1908 | $4 million | Most of the town was destroyed. [2] | |||
| Great Porcupine Fire | Timmins | Ontario | Jul 1911 | 73 to 200 | 199,915 hectares (494,000 acres) | |||
| Matheson Fire | Black River-Matheson | Ontario | Jul 1916 | 223 [5] to 244 [6] | 49 townships [6] | 200,000 hectares (490,000 acres) | The worst fire on record in Ontario's history. Destroyed 49 townships, including the villages of Kelso, Val Gagné, and Iroquois Falls. [6] | |
| Great Fire of 1919 | Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta |  Alberta  Saskatchewan | May 1919 | 11 [7] | 2,000,000 hectares (4,900,000 acres) | The first major fire at the wildland-urban interface of the Prairie Provinces. [8] | ||
| Great Fire of 1922 | Timiskaming District | Ontario | Oct 1922 | 43 | $2 million | 168,000 hectares (420,000 acres) | ||
| Knights of Columbus Hostel fire | St. John's | Newfoundland | Dec 1942 | 99 | [9] | |||
| Mississagi Fire of 1948 | Mississagi River | Ontario | May– Jul 1948 | 1 [10] | 280,000 hectares (690,000 acres) | The fire destroyed land over a two-month period between Chapleau and Thessalon. [6] | ||
| Chinchaga fire | Northern British Columbia and Alberta | Alberta  British Columbia | Jun– Oct 1950 | 0 | 1,400,000 to 1,700,000 hectares (3,500,000 to 4,200,000 acres) | Largest recorded single fire in North American history. | ||
| Notre-Dame-du-Lac seniors' home fire | Notre-Dame-du-Lac | Quebec | Dec 1969 | 40 | [11] | |||
| Opémiska Community Hall fire | Chapais | Quebec | Jan 1980 | 48 | [12] | |||
| Manitoba wildfires | Manitoba |  Manitoba | May, Jul– Aug 1989 | 100 homes | 2,500,000 hectares (6,200,000 acres) | Drought conditions in Manitoba caused over 1,200 fires to spring up throughout the province. [6] [13] [14] | ||
| Hagersville Tire Fire | Hagersville, Ontario |  Ontario | Feb 1990 | 0 | 0 | Unknown | 7.3 hectares (18 acres) | Significant ecological damage caused by the melting of 12-14 million tires over 17 days. |
| 2001 Chisholm Wildfire | Chisholm |  Alberta | May 2001 | 60+ | 116,000 hectares (290,000 acres) | [6] | ||
| McLure fire | North Thompson River | British Columbia | Jul– Aug 2003 | 0 | $31.9 million [15] | 81 | 26,420 hectares (65,300 acres) | 3,800 people evacuated [15] |
| Okanagan Mountain Park Fire | Central Okanagan | British Columbia | Aug 2003 | 0 | $33.8 Million [16] | 239 | 25,912 hectares (64,030 acres) | |
| West Kelowna wildfires | West Kelowna | British Columbia | Jul 2009 | 0 | $403 million [17] | 4 | 9,877 hectares (24,410 acres) | Three separate wildfires. |
| May 2010 Quebec wildfires | La Tuque |  Quebec | May 2010 | 0 | 90,000 hectares (220,000 acres) | |||
| 2011 Slave Lake Wildfire | Slave Lake | Alberta | May 2011 | 1 (helicopter crash) | $750 million [18] | 433 | 4,700 hectares (12,000 acres) | One-third of town destroyed. [19] |
| Richardson Fire | Richardson Backcountry | Alberta | May–Sep 2011 | 0 | $350 to $450 million [20] | 700,000 hectares (1,700,000 acres) | largest fire in Alberta since the 1950 Chinchaga fire. | |
| Timmins Fire 9 | Timmins | Ontario | May–Nov 2012 | 0 | 39,540 hectares (97,700 acres) [21] | Starting North of Gogama, Timmins 9 was the largest fire the area had seen in nearly a 100 years since the 1911 Great Porcupine Fire. | ||
| L'Isle-Verte nursing home fire | L'Isle-Verte | Quebec | Dec 2014 | 32 | [22] | |||
| 2014 Northwest Territories fires | Northwest Territories |  Northwest Territories | summer 2014 | 0 | $56.1 million [23] | 3,400,000 ha (8,400,000 acres) [23] | Said to have been the largest wildfires in 30 years in the Northwest Territories [24] Note: Damage is the cost of fire fighting. | |
| 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire | Northern Alberta (incl. Fort McMurray) and Saskatchewan | Alberta  Saskatchewan | May– Jul 2016 | 2 (indirect) [25] | $9.9 billion (direct and indirect costs) [26] [27] [28] | 3,244 | 589,552 hectares (1,456,810 acres) | Largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history. [29] Costliest disaster in Canadian history, cost of $3.58 billion in July, estimate up to $9 billion. |
| 2017 British Columbia wildfires | Central and South Interior, and Alberta | Alberta British Columbia | Jul– Sep 2017 | 0 | $586 million [30] | 305+ [31] | 1,216,053 hectares (3,004,930 acres) [32] | Estimated 65,000 [30] evacuated. Largest single wildfire in BC Wildfire history. |
| 2017 Alberta fires | Alberta, Saskatchewan | Alberta Saskatchewan | summer 2017 | 1 [33] | 14+ [33] | Fires possibly caused by power lines downed in a storm. [34] | ||
| North Bay 69 | Temagami | Ontario | Jul– Aug 2018 | 0 | 221 hectares (550 acres) | |||
| 2018 Parry Sound forest fire | Parry Sound District | Ontario | Jul– Oct 2018 | 0 | 11,362.5 hectares (28,077 acres) | |||
| 2018 British Columbia wildfires | British Columbia | British Columbia | summer 2018 | 50+ [35] | 1,298,454 hectares (3,208,550 acres) | Initial estimates put 2018 as the largest total burn-area in any British Columbia wildfire season, surpassing the 2017 wildfire season. [36] | ||
| 2019 Alberta wildfires | Northwestern and Central Alberta | Alberta | Mar–Dec 2019 | 16 [37] | 883,414 hectares (2,182,960 acres) [38] | Both lightning and human activity have been contributed to the cause, as well several are under investigation. [38] (*as of 18 Oct, 2019) | ||
| Lytton wildfire | Lytton | British Columbia | Jun 2021 | 2 | $78 million | Fire started after a record breaking heatwave. | ||
| 2023 Nova Scotia wildfires | Nova Scotia | Nova Scotia | summer 2023 | 0 | 250+ | 24,128 hectares (59,620 acres) | 18,000 evacuated. | |
| 2023 Alberta wildfires | Alberta | Alberta | 2023 | 1,220,000 hectares (3,000,000 acres) | Wisconsin had the worst air quality of the year. It was so bad that even the Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison cancelled summer school on June 28th. As well, many local outdoor swimming pools were closed. | |||
| 2024 Canada wildfires | Alberta and British Columbia | Alberta British Columbia | 2024 | Thousands evacuated. |
Fort McMurray is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significant role in the development of the national petroleum industry. The 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire led to the evacuation of its residents and caused widespread damage.
Terrace is a city in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. This regional hub lies east of the confluence of the Kitsumkalum River into the Skeena River. On BC Highway 16, junctions branch northward for the Nisga'a Highway to the west and southward for the Stewart–Cassiar Highway to the east. The locality is by road about 204 km (127 mi) southwest of Smithers and 144 km (89 mi) east of Prince Rupert. Transportation links are the Northwest Regional Airport, a passenger train, and bus services.
Hazelton is a village municipality in the Skeena region of west central British Columbia, Canada. The place is on the southeast side of the Skeena River immediately north of the Bulkley River mouth, where the confluence forms a peninsula. On BC Highway 62, the locality is by road about 75 kilometres (47 mi) northwest of Smithers and 144 kilometres (89 mi) northeast of Terrace. Hazelton is the original of the "Three Hazeltons", the other two being New Hazelton to the southeast and South Hazelton to the south.
Delta Hotels by Marriott is a four-star brand of hotels and resorts located primarily in North America.
Canal Flats is a village municipality in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. This Columbia Valley community lies between the southern end of Columbia Lake and the northwest shore of the Kootenay River. The locality, on Highway 93/95, is by road about 83 kilometres (52 mi) north of Cranbrook and 165 kilometres (103 mi) southeast of Golden.
Alberta Provincial Highway No. 63, commonly referred to as Highway 63, is a 434-kilometre (270 mi) highway in northern Alberta, Canada that connects the Athabasca oil sands and Fort McMurray to Edmonton via Highway 28. It begins as a two-lane road near the hamlet of Radway where it splits from Highway 28, running north through aspen parkland and farmland of north central Alberta. North of Boyle, it curves east to pass through the hamlet of Grassland and becomes divided west of Atmore where it again turns north, this time through heavy boreal forest and muskeg, particularly beyond Wandering River. Traffic levels significantly increase as Highway 63 bends through Fort McMurray, crossing the Athabasca River before connecting the city to the Syncrude and Suncor Energy plants further north. It ends approximately 16 km (10 mi) beyond a second crossing of the Athabasca River northeast of Fort McKay.
The Jasper–Prince Rupert train is a Canadian passenger train service operated by Via Rail between Jasper, Alberta, Prince George and Prince Rupert in British Columbia.
The Pine Pass, in the Hart Ranges of the Northern Rockies of British Columbia, connects the Peace Country of the province's Northeastern Interior. Highway 97 and the Canadian National Railway (CNR) traverse this mountain pass, which is the location of the Bijoux Falls Provincial Park, the Pine Le Moray Provincial Park, and the Powder King Mountain Resort at Azouzetta Lake.
Willow River is a community northeast of Prince George, on the northeast bank of the Willow River, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) southeast of the confluence with the Fraser River, in central British Columbia. The name derives from the many willow swamps in the river valley. Comprising about 150 residents, it has a general store/post-office, a volunteer fire department, church building and a small community hall. Street map.
Monkman Pass, in the Canadian Rockies, is southwest of Tumbler Ridge and northeast of Hansard. Found in the Hart Ranges, some consider this mountain pass as the southern limit of the informal grouping known as the Northern Rockies, although those are occasionally reckoned as extending farther southeast to Mount Ovington or even to Mount Robson.
There have been various proposals to establish a rail line that links Canada and Alaska.
Waterways is a locality within the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in northern Alberta, Canada. It is now a neighbourhood within the Fort McMurray urban service area along the west bank of the Clearwater River, south of the river's confluence with the Athabasca River.
The Richardson Fire was a 2011 forest fire in the Canadian province of Alberta. It was located north of the city of Fort McMurray in an area known as the Richardson Backcountry. The fire started in mid-May 2011, and burned over 700,000 hectares of boreal forest. It threatened facilities in the Athabasca oil sands, and resulted in several evacuations and shutdowns. Firefighting efforts included agencies from several Canadian provinces as well as international crews. The Richardson fire was the largest fire in Alberta since the 1950 Chinchaga Fire, and the second largest recorded fire in the province's history.
Air Spray (1967) Ltd. trading as Air Spray Ltd. of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Air Spray USA Inc of Chico, California is a private company specializing in aerial wildfire suppression using air tanker or water bomber aircraft. Air Spray was owned and operated by Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, Donald T. Hamilton until his death in 2011. The company continued to be owned and operated by his daughter, Lynn Hamilton, of Foothills, Alberta.
On May 1, 2016, a wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their homes. Firefighters were assisted by personnel from both the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police, as well as other Canadian provincial agencies, to fight the wildfire. Aid for evacuees was provided by various governments and via donations through the Canadian Red Cross and other local and national charitable organizations.
The 2019 Alberta wildfires have been described by NASA as part of an extreme fire season in the province. In 2019 there were a total of 803,393.32 hectares, which is over 3.5 times more land area burned than in the five-year average burned. The five year average is 747 fires destroying 146,360.08 hectares. There were 644 wildfires recorded in Alberta. By May 31, 10,000 people had been evacuated, 16 homes, and the Steen River CN railway bridge, had been destroyed.
A state of emergency occurs when any level of government assumes authority it does not generally possess to respond to a crisis. This is done by invoking said authority under specific legislation, and permits the government to expend funds, mobilize forces, or suspend civil liberties.
Beginning in March 2023, and with increased intensity starting in June, Canada was affected by a record-setting series of wildfires. All 13 provinces and territories were affected, with large fires in Alberta, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Quebec. The 2023 wildfire season had the most area burned in Canada's recorded history, surpassing the 1989, 1995, and 2014 fire seasons, as well as in recorded North American history, surpassing the 2020 Western US wildfire season.
The 2024 Canadian wildfires are an ongoing series of wildfires in Canada. The fires have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in communities throughout the country, including Labrador City, and Jasper, Alberta, where the Jasper wildfire has destroyed one-third of the town's structures.