Photo Courtesy of Wildland Fire Management/Government of Yukon.
Whitehorse, YT – Yukon’s wildfire season this year was average but intense according to the Director of Wildland Fire Management, Devin Bailey, who pointed to an unusually long season and several extreme fires that burnt in the territory this summer.
This year 206,201.2 hectares were burnt and 151 fires were reported.
Director Bailey says that the majority of reported wildfires were started by lightning strikes and there was a two-week period over the summer where multiple lightning strikes started multiple fires in multiple different areas.
“We did see a record number of lightning strikes in a very short duration of time,” said Director Bailey. “When the season did start it started hard, but our initial attack crews did an amazing job of initial attack this season.”
Initial attack crews were credited with having a “very high” success ratio this year but still faced challenging fires such as the Beaver Creek Fire, which led to the evacuation of four people from the Kluane Wilderness Lodge in August.
Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn says that although Yukon faced a relatively normal fire season neighbors like the Northwest Territories, B.C. and Alberta grappled with intense fire seasons that are a result of climate change.
“We’re dealing with the effects of the pollution we’re putting in the climate but we have to consider the actual pollution we’re putting out there, and we all have to do our part to change this trajectory,” said Minister Mostyn. “This is the effects, but the cause we’re not dealing with.”
