The first week of January isn’t usually wildfire season. But as 2024 began, more than 100 “zombie fires” were actively burning in British Columbia — holdovers from last summer that typically go dormant over winter.
“That is mind boggling to me. Just unheard of,” said Lori Daniels, a professor with the University of British Columbia’s department of forest and conservation sciences.
The warm, dry weather that capped off what is expected to be declared the planet’s hottest year on record — and Canada’s most destructive wildfire season by a longshot, with more than 6,500 fires burning close to 19 million hectares —
