Wildland fire evacuations in Canada from 1980 to 2021. Christianson, A. C., Johnston, L. M., Oliver, J. A., Watson, D., Young, D., MacDonald, H., Little, J., Macnab, B., & Gonzalez Bautista, N. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 33(7):WF23097, June, 2024. ![Wildland fire evacuations in Canada from 1980 to 2021 [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper doi abstract bibtex Every year, people in Canada are evacuated due to wildland fires to avoid death, injury, and illness from fire and smoke events.In this paper, we provide an overview of evacuations recorded in the Canadian Wildland Fire Evacuation Database between 1980 and 2021.Our analysis covers evacuations in Canada from 1980 to 2021. We provide summary statistics including number of evacuations and evacuees, evacuation duration, seasonality, evacuation causes, community types, structure losses, and fatalities. We also investigate temporal and spatial patterns.Between 1980 and 2021, there were 1393 wildland fire evacuation events with 576,747 people evacuated. During this period, there was an overall increase in frequency of evacuations, number of evacuees, and duration of events. Structure loss occurred during 194 evacuation events, with 4105 homes burned. We estimate wildland fire evacuations cost at least CAD3.7 billion (excluding structural losses), jumping to CAD4.6 billion if we include productivity losses. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately impacted in wildfire evacuations compared to the general Canadian population.Wildland fire evacuations continue to occur across Canada and are increasing.The findings from this study give us a better understanding of the characteristics of wildland fire evacuations, which can help guide emergency management.
@article{christianson_wildland_2024,
title = {Wildland fire evacuations in {Canada} from 1980 to 2021},
volume = {33},
issn = {1049-8001},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23097},
doi = {10.1071/WF23097},
abstract = {Every year, people in Canada are evacuated due to wildland fires to avoid death, injury, and illness from fire and smoke events.In this paper, we provide an overview of evacuations recorded in the Canadian Wildland Fire Evacuation Database between 1980 and 2021.Our analysis covers evacuations in Canada from 1980 to 2021. We provide summary statistics including number of evacuations and evacuees, evacuation duration, seasonality, evacuation causes, community types, structure losses, and fatalities. We also investigate temporal and spatial patterns.Between 1980 and 2021, there were 1393 wildland fire evacuation events with 576,747 people evacuated. During this period, there was an overall increase in frequency of evacuations, number of evacuees, and duration of events. Structure loss occurred during 194 evacuation events, with 4105 homes burned. We estimate wildland fire evacuations cost at least CAD3.7 billion (excluding structural losses), jumping to CAD4.6 billion if we include productivity losses. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately impacted in wildfire evacuations compared to the general Canadian population.Wildland fire evacuations continue to occur across Canada and are increasing.The findings from this study give us a better understanding of the characteristics of wildland fire evacuations, which can help guide emergency management.},
number = {7},
urldate = {2026-05-22},
journal = {International Journal of Wildland Fire},
author = {Christianson, Amy Cardinal and Johnston, Lynn M. and Oliver, Jacqueline A. and Watson, David and Young, David and MacDonald, Heather and Little, John and Macnab, Bruce and Gonzalez Bautista, Noemie},
month = jun,
year = {2024},
keywords = {Populated Places},
pages = {WF23097},
}
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We provide summary statistics including number of evacuations and evacuees, evacuation duration, seasonality, evacuation causes, community types, structure losses, and fatalities. We also investigate temporal and spatial patterns.Between 1980 and 2021, there were 1393 wildland fire evacuation events with 576,747 people evacuated. During this period, there was an overall increase in frequency of evacuations, number of evacuees, and duration of events. Structure loss occurred during 194 evacuation events, with 4105 homes burned. We estimate wildland fire evacuations cost at least CAD3.7 billion (excluding structural losses), jumping to CAD4.6 billion if we include productivity losses. Indigenous peoples are disproportionately impacted in wildfire evacuations compared to the general Canadian population.Wildland fire evacuations continue to occur across Canada and are increasing.The findings from this study give us a better understanding of the characteristics of wildland fire evacuations, which can help guide emergency management.","number":"7","urldate":"2026-05-22","journal":"International Journal of Wildland Fire","author":[{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Christianson"],"firstnames":["Amy","Cardinal"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Johnston"],"firstnames":["Lynn","M."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Oliver"],"firstnames":["Jacqueline","A."],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Watson"],"firstnames":["David"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Young"],"firstnames":["David"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["MacDonald"],"firstnames":["Heather"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Little"],"firstnames":["John"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Macnab"],"firstnames":["Bruce"],"suffixes":[]},{"propositions":[],"lastnames":["Gonzalez","Bautista"],"firstnames":["Noemie"],"suffixes":[]}],"month":"June","year":"2024","keywords":"Populated Places","pages":"WF23097","bibtex":"@article{christianson_wildland_2024,\n\ttitle = {Wildland fire evacuations in {Canada} from 1980 to 2021},\n\tvolume = {33},\n\tissn = {1049-8001},\n\turl = {https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23097},\n\tdoi = {10.1071/WF23097},\n\tabstract = {Every year, people in Canada are evacuated due to wildland fires to avoid death, injury, and illness from fire and smoke events.In this paper, we provide an overview of evacuations recorded in the Canadian Wildland Fire Evacuation Database between 1980 and 2021.Our analysis covers evacuations in Canada from 1980 to 2021. We provide summary statistics including number of evacuations and evacuees, evacuation duration, seasonality, evacuation causes, community types, structure losses, and fatalities. We also investigate temporal and spatial patterns.Between 1980 and 2021, there were 1393 wildland fire evacuation events with 576,747 people evacuated. During this period, there was an overall increase in frequency of evacuations, number of evacuees, and duration of events. Structure loss occurred during 194 evacuation events, with 4105 homes burned. We estimate wildland fire evacuations cost at least CAD3.7 billion (excluding structural losses), jumping to CAD4.6 billion if we include productivity losses. 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