Democracy Dies in Darkness

These wildfires never went out — they just moved underground

Canada’s record wildfire season keeps burning through the winter

By
February 24, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. EST
Firefighters at work in Fox Lake, Alberta, on Feb. 6. Beneath the ground in western Canada, more than 150 zombie fires that started last year are still burning in the dead of winter. (Alberta Wildfire/AFP/Getty Images)
4 min

Under the ground, even under the snow, zombie fires are burning.

The remnants of the most extraordinary wildfire season in recent Canadian history are still smoldering on a scale that experts say is unprecedented. The warm and dry winter, particularly in western Canada, has left more than 150 fires burning across British Columbia and Alberta, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.