What’s next for Canada’s wildfire season? Ottawa to share update

Officials are set to provide an update on the 2026 Canadian wildfire season Tuesday afternoon, as intense fires continue to burn across the country.

There are currently 582 active wildfires burning across Canada, 31 of which are labelled as out of control, according to Natural Resources Canada.

Officials previously warned on May 28 that “significant wildfire activity” was expected in B.C. in the government’s wildfire season preparedness and outlook for 2026 at the start of the season.

On a July 9 update, officials said that although it is a “challenging” year, the 2026 wildfire season has “not reached the scale seen in 2025.”

There were 796 active wildfires burning across Canada on July 9, 60 of which were classified as out of control.

In 2025, more than 6,000 wildfires were reported in nearly every province and territory, impacting communities across the country and burning more than 8.3 million hectares.

Summerland residents in British Columbia are starting to walk back through their front doors as parts of the community begin to reopen following the Bald Range wildfire, which continues to burn across more than 21,000 hectares.

Many parts of Canada were blanketed in thick smoke in July as smoke from wildfires in northwestern Ontario triggered very poor air quality and reduced visibility, Environment Canada said at the time.

As a result, U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to tariff Canada for the smoke, saying that American air was “poisoned.”

“If we can help them, we’ll help them. But maybe they should pay us some damages or something, or we should do some tariffs.”