Fires in Canada led to more than 230,000 evacuations and eight firefighters lost their lives. An unusually high number of fires were also seen in northern parts of South America, which led to the Amazon region experiencing among the worst air quality ratings on the planet.

Elsewhere in the world, individual wildfires that burned intensely and spread quickly in Chile, Hawaii and Greece led to 131, 100, and 19 direct fatalities, respectively. 

Using satellite observations as well as advanced climate and fire modelling, the State of Wildfires report takes stock of extreme wildfires, explains their causes and evaluates how the risk of similar events will change in future under different climate change scenarios. It is co-led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the University of East Anglia (UEA), the UK Met Office and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

The report shows that if there is no action to tackle greenhouse gases now, wildfires similar in scale to the 2023-24 season will become over six times more common in Canada by 2100, and twice as common under a low emissions scenario.

The State of Wildfires 2023-24 report is published in the journal Earth System Science Data. A similar annual report will now be published every year.

A press release which includes comments from UKCEH Land Surface Modeller Dr Douglas Kelley, one of the lead authors of the report, is on the University of East Anglia website.