Traffic moves along One World Trade Center in New York City amid smokey haze from wildfires in Canada.Andy Bao / AP June 2026

There’s been a lot of concern this summer about Canada wildfires along with claims about global warming/climate change being the cause.  This post is to provide data and history as context for understanding what happens in this boreal forest.  First an update from the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS).

The map shows the current distribution of wildfires in Canada and hotspots as of August 6, 2026. The Eastern part has now reduced down greatly.  The action now is in the West along the US border. The infographic provides the data on Active fires, new fires and extinguished fires. There are numbers for year to date and 10 yr. averages. The graph on the left shows area burned each year from 2017 through 2026 to date. Humans caused 42% of the number of wildfires, and nature caused 92% of the area burned.

As Chris Martz pointed out in an interview, boreal forests burn every year as part of their natural life cycle. Also Canada forests are vast and remote so that management is challenging.  A previous post here mentioned that some practices can and should be improved, especially since recent years have been more active and destructive, especially 2023, 25 and now 2026. Martz also provided some data contradicting the notion global warming is the cause.

The drought and heat wave indices are where climatic effects would show up.  Yes there are recent spikes, Ibut also numerous precedents in the past. In neither case do the patterns reflect rising CO2, let alone human hydrocarbon use.  In fact there is a significant decrease in the worst of the drought categories despite the spike in 2023–24.