When scientists started pouring over data to assess Canada’s fire season this year, they struggled to find the right superlatives.
“Never before seen,” was thrown around, as was “exceptional in scale, duration” and “huge long-term consequences.”
There had never been so many areas burned—18 million hectares (45 million acres, 70,000 square miles), via 6,400 fires—or so many people evacuated, at more than 200,000.