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List of fires in Canada

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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.

List

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 Colony of 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 Colony of 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  Dominion of 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Great Miramichi Fire: The largest fire ever in eastern North America". GNB. Archived from the original on 13 Oct 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Omineca Herald". library.ubc.ca. 19 Dec 1908. p. 3.
  3. ^ "The Great Fire of Saint John, New Brunswick, 1877". Retrieved 17 Dec 2008.
  4. ^ "Great Vancouver Fire Stories" (PDF). MOV. Museum of Vancouver. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  5. ^ "The Great Fire of 1916" (PDF). Ontario Heritage Foundation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 May 2005.
  6. ^ a b c d e f "List: Canada's most destructive wildfires". CTVNews. 16 May 2011. Retrieved 18 Apr 2022.
  7. ^ "Largest Brush and Forest Fires in Recorded History". 15 March 2018.
  8. ^ Murphy, Peter J., Cordy Tymstra, and Merle Massie. 2015. "The Great Fire of 1919: People and a Shared Firestorm in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada." Forest History Today 2015 (Spring/Fall): 22–30.
  9. ^ "CBC News". www.upi.com. 12 Dec 2014.
  10. ^ Campbell, Gord. "The Mississagi Fire, 1948, A Historical Account". images.ourontario.ca. Retrieved 18 Apr 2022.
  11. ^ "Daily Colonist". archive.org. 16 Jan 1971. p. 1.
  12. ^ "UPI News". www.upi.com. 20 May 1981.
  13. ^ Manitoba Conservation & Climate. "Manitoba Wildfires : 1914 – 2020". Province of Manitoba. Retrieved 18 Apr 2022.
  14. ^ Hirsch, Kelvin G. (1 Apr 1991). "A chronological overview of the 1989 fire season in Manitoba". The Forestry Chronicle. 67 (4): 358–365. doi:10.5558/tfc67358-4. ISSN 0015-7546.
  15. ^ a b "The McLure Fire" (PDF). The University of Lethbridge. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 16 Jul 2016.
  16. ^ "Fire Review Summary for Okanagan Mountain Fire (K50628)" (PDF). BC Wildfire. Government of British Columbia. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  17. ^ "Review of the 2009 Fire Season" (PDF). BC Wildfire. Ministry of Forests and Range. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Slave Lake fires 2nd costliest insured disaster". CTV News. 5 Jul 2011. Retrieved 5 Jul 2011.
  19. ^ "Slave Lake fire: How it happened". Postmedia Network Inc. Edmonton Journal. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  20. ^ "Canadian Natural Resources Limited Provides a Further Update on the Impact of Alberta Forest Fires" (Press release). Marketwire. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  21. ^ Snyder, Wayne (19 Jul 2022). "'Timmins 9' forest fire still haunts residents". TimminsToday.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  22. ^ "Gazette". montrealgazette.com. 21 Jan 2015.
  23. ^ a b 2014 N.W.T. fire season report: What you need to know
  24. ^ Worst forest fires in 30 years cost N.W.T. $55M
  25. ^ "2 die in fiery crash on Highway 881 south of Fort McMurray". CBC/Radio-Canada. CBC News Edmonton. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  26. ^ Weber, Bob (17 Jan 2017). "Costs of Alberta wildfire reach $9.5 billion: Study". BNN Canada. Archived from the original on 19 Jan 2017. Retrieved 18 Jan 2017.
  27. ^ "Fort McMurray 2016 Wildfire - Economic Impact" (PDF). Statistics Canada. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 Jul 2018. Retrieved 20 Jul 2016.
  28. ^ Romero, Diego (7 Jul 2016). "Fort McMurray wildfires damage cost $3.85 billion". CTV. Edmonton. Archived from the original on 8 Jul 2016. Retrieved 7 Jul 2016.
  29. ^ Parsons, Paige (3 May 2016). "Thousands flee from Fort McMurray wildfire in the largest fire evacuation in Alberta's history". Edmonton Journal. Postmedia Network. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  30. ^ a b "Wildfire Season Summary - Province of British Columbia".
  31. ^ "B.C. wildfire status Wednesday: Arson suspected in 2 wildfires". Global News. Retrieved 3 Aug 2017.
  32. ^ "B.C. wildfires set record for total land burned over". Vancouver Sun. 16 Aug 2017. Retrieved 20 Aug 2017.
  33. ^ a b "Wildfires take tragic toll with death of firefighter, loss of homes in rural Alberta". Calgary Herald. 19 Oct 2017. Retrieved 19 Oct 2017.
  34. ^ "Alberta wildfires 2017: Current status of wildfires around the province". Global News. Retrieved 19 Oct 2017.
  35. ^ "British Columbia wildfire season now second worst in province's history". 26 Aug 2018.
  36. ^ "Current Statistics".
  37. ^ Derworiz, Colette (31 May 2019). "10,000 people forced out, 16 homes destroyed by Alberta wildfires". Global News. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on 12 Jun 2019. Retrieved 12 Jun 2019.
  38. ^ a b "Alberta Wildfire and Prescribed Burn Sitrep". Alberta Wildfire. Government of Alberta. 20 Jun 2019. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 18 Oct 2019.
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