More than 220 active fires were burning across the country Tuesday, with half of them considered out of control.
More than 3.3 million hectares (12,700 square miles) have already been consumed by flames -- an area equivalent to the country of Belgium.
- A violent, early season -
Two provinces in central Canada -- Saskatchewan and Manitoba -- were hard-hit with rough starts to fire season, and had to declare a state of emergency at the end of May.
Now, more than a dozen new fires are detected daily across Canada -- often started accidentally by humans, but sometimes ignited by lightning strikes.
Mega wildfires are now burning in western Alberta and British Columbia, as well as in northern Ontario, the country's most populous province.
While these fires are consuming land at an alarming pace, they have not yet matched the numbers from 2023, an extraordinary year.
"It's quite spectacular what we're seeing right now," said Marc-Andre Parisien, a researcher at the Canadian Forest Service.
As such, the country is on maximum fire alert and resources are ready for mobilization, including army-led evacuations from remote areas.
International aid from Australia and the Unites States are also standing by.
- Fire weather conditions -
"There are some similarities to the 2023 fire season, particularly because we're again coping with a very large area experiencing water deficits and drought," Parisien said.
"Without the insulating effect of snow, the ground warmed up, vegetation dried more quickly, and conditions conducive to forest fires were established several weeks in advance," said Hossein Bonakdari, a University of Ottowa professor.
What's more, temperatures in May were above average across most of Canada.
In recent years, Canada has experienced warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the globe.
Linked to human-induced climate change, rising temperatures lead to reduced snow, shorter and milder winters, and earlier summer conditions that promote fires, experts say.
- Summer outlook -
Under current conditions, the fires are expected to last weeks or months, researchers say, warning that affected areas are so large that fires can smolder underground and reappear as temperatures rise.
"What is quite worrisome for the country is that we're experiencing a third consecutive year of intense fires with social consequences for thousands of evacuees but also significant ecological impacts," said Yan Boulanger, researcher for Canada's Ministry of Natural Resources.
While forest fires have a natural place in Canada's ecosystem, repeated blazes mean there is little time to regenerate in between fire seasons.
In some areas, the forest is beginning to disappear, making way for prairie landscapes, the researcher said.
Another source of concern for experts: the size of the fires, which are already enormous this month, long before the peak of the season.
For example, in Saskatchewan, the Shoe Fire already exceeds 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres).
From that perspective, Boulanger said, "it's even more serious than 2023."
Fires force Indigenous Canadians to tourist town of Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls, Canada (AFP) June 11, 2025 -
Niagara Falls, Canada is often packed with visitors, but hotel rooms in the tourist city are currently occupied by hundreds of people who did not come for sight-seeing.
Indigenous Canadians from remote communities thousands of kilometers away have been forced to flee their homes because of raging wildfires and are staying at Niagara Falls hotels.
Among them is Travis Bighetty, 38, who told AFP he evacuated Mathias Colomb Cree Nation in northern Manitoba province days ago as it was "practically engulfed by fire."
Dressed in a grey suit and a cowboy hat he collected from a clothing drive, Bighetty said he volunteered to be relocated far from home, taking an opportunity for him and his seven-year-old daughter to see one of Canada's most famous sites.
But after a week, he is ready to leave.
"I'd like to go back to God's country. I'd like to go back to my reserve," he said of the community also known as Pukatawagan.
It has been a devastating start to Canada's fire season, with more than three million hectares of forest already scorched and tens of thousands of people displaced.
Manitoba, in central Canada, has been among the hardest hit areas and shelter capacity in the provincial capital Winnipeg reached its limit.
Bighetty said he first arrived in Niagara Falls after a harrowing escape from Pukatawagan.
"We knew the fire was coming towards us," he said. "We didn't know how fast."
First he was told to leave his home for a community center.
He wanted to go back home and grab a few cherished things before evacuating, but that proved impossible.
For his daughter, that meant leaving without her favorite doll, a gift from her father.
"She was pretty attached to her doll," Bighetty said. "She wasn't able to bring that out."
His daughter took an earlier helicopter and by the time he boarded, Bighetty said he saw nothing but smoke.
"There (were) actually ashes falling."
Bighetty said he is passing the days in Niagara Falls by walking from his hotel to the striking waterway and strolling the streets.
For now, he has no idea when he'll leave.
"They said it'd be a while," he told AFP.
- Culture shock -
Dozens of Indigenous Canadians sat on restaurant and cafe patios on a main Niagara Falls street Tuesday, gathering in areas dramatically different from their usual social spots.
The city is aware that many may be uncomfortable in an urban environment, said the local fire chief and emergency response coordinator, Jo Zambito.
"They're coming from a culture that isn't the same as ours," he told AFP, adding that support workers have been deployed to all the hotels housing evacuees to aid those feeling distressed.
Niagara Falls has previously welcomed people displaced by flood and other disasters in part because of its numerous hotel rooms, many of which are vacant in non-tourist seasons.
But Zambito said the city is also well-equipped to offer support because as a tourist hub, locals are good at welcoming visitors.
The number of evacuees in the city has fluctuated, but Zambito said there were roughly 2,400 Indigenous people from Manitoba currently in Niagara Falls.
Locals have generously stepped up with donations, he added, but there is concern about overburdening the health care system.
The main challenge is the uncertainty.
"We just don't know how long they'll be here," Zambito said, voicing concern for the evacuees who have little information about the status of their homes.
- 'I miss my bed' -
Florette Richard turned her head away as her eyes began to fill with tears, while she recounted her flight from Cross Lake, in northern Manitoba.
The mother of four said two of her children declined to come east to Niagara Falls, splitting the family and forcing her away from her only grandchild, one-year-old Ezra.
Richard and her husband Norval are surrounded in Niagara Falls by others from Cross Lake, roughly 520 kilometers north of Winnipeg.
But feelings of isolation were starting to take their toll, she said.
"It's lonely now. I miss my home. I miss my bed."
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