Post comparing 2003, 2023 Kelowna wildfires misses the mark: 'Photos are not enough'

On Aug. 20, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, posted two pictures of the Kelowna fires that took place in B.C. 20 years apart, suggesting the two fires don’t look all that different.

This comes after the wildfire season has gotten significantly worse for Canada in 2023, becoming the worst on record according to government figured reported by BBC News.

A July 2023 article titled Why Canada's Wildfires Are So Bad This Year" by the College of Natural Resources in North Carolina found: “The release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases continues to drive changes in the climate, contributing to warmer-than-average surface temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns — trends that are expected to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of wildfires.”

Since its posting, Charlebois’ tweet has gotten major attention on the platform. While some people were quick to jump on the train and support his theory, others were upset at the apparent denial of climate change. Some suggested that there is more to climate change than photo comparisons.

In an interview with Yahoo Canada, Ryan Ness, the Director of Adaptation at the Canadian Climate Institute, said that we may see the kind of wildfires that affect Kelowna much more often than every 20 years in the future.

"We have to recognize that what we're seeing is the beginning of our new climate reality. Wildfires are going to be more frequent and more severe than they ever have been before on average," Ness said.

While Canada has always had extreme weather and climate-related disasters, Ness added that the current state of the fires is not something to be brushed off.

"It's always possible to point to some historic example of a flood or a wildfire and say, 'Oh well, it's always been this way,'" Ness said.

"While it is true that we've always had floods and we've always had wildfires, the difference now is how often they're occurring, how big they are when they do occur, and how much they're happening just about everywhere."

On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, more users quote-posted Charlebois' post, lambasting the notion that the wildfires are alike.

How do the wildfires in 2003 compare to 2023?

The Okanagan Mountain Park Fire in 2003 was unquestionably tragic. The fire consumed 250 square kilometres, an area that is nearly twice the size of the city of Vancouver. More than 33,00 people were forced to leave their homes and it caused approximately $200 million in damages.

While the fire died on its own weeks later in mid-September, it was the biggest interface fire B.C. has had until this year.

The current McDougall Creek wildfire featured in Charlebois' post has now caused 30,000 people to be under evacuation orders while another 36,000 were under alert to be ready to flee, according to the Guardian.

As of Sunday afternoon, 410 square kilometres were covered in the area by the blaze. Currently, 3,400 workers are involved in firefighting in B.C. with West Kelowna fire chief Jason Brolund, announcing that 500 firefighters are specifically engaged in managing the McDougall Creek wildfire.

With more than 13 million hectares already burned, Canada is in the midst of its worst wildfire season on record, with weeks more to go — though some suggest some of the fires can burn well into winter, offering no usual reprieve from the changing seasons.

This is about double the size of the previous record of 7.3 million hectares in 1989 and is roughly the size of Greece.

Since posting his initial tweet, Charlebois has updated it to include a call for people to set politics aside and concentrate on helping those who have been impacted by these terrible incidents.