“When the smoke comes for you, remember: it started with flames you chose to ignore.”
As of August 3, 2025, Canada is facing one of the most devastating wildfire crises in recorded history:
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742 active wildfires
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210 are out of control and being fought with everything they’ve got
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298 more are out of control but can’t be staffed — there simply aren’t enough people or equipment
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16.5 million acres have already burned
That’s not a typo.
That’s more than the entire state of West Virginia — turned to ash.
The smoke you see in the sky here in the U.S.?
The haze making your eyes water? The burning in your throat?
It’s not an inconvenience.
It’s a warning.
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1635M2hV9w/
Canada is burning — literally — and this is not a normal year. On average, they see about 8,000 wildfires annually. This year they’ve only had 4,000 — but those fires are larger, faster, and far more destructive. Less fire. More destruction. That’s climate math.
Entire boreal forests — some of the oldest carbon sinks on Earth — are being lost in hours. Wildlife is being displaced or wiped out. Communities in the far north are being evacuated, again and again. Indigenous people are watching their ancestral lands turn into smoldering ruins.
And still, they can’t stop it.
Because no one can.
Canada has asked the international community for help. But the countries that would normally answer are tied up battling their own wildfires, floods, heatwaves, and climate emergencies. There simply isn’t enough to go around anymore. Not enough equipment. Not enough crews. Not enough time.
This is the future climate scientists warned us about — and we’re living in it.
🌍 Not “Their Problem” — Ours
You might be tempted to think, “That’s tragic, but it’s up there. It’s not my issue.”
But that smoke blanketing the Midwest and New England? That is your issue.
The water tables are shifting in both Canada and the U.S. — that’s your issue.
The insurance companies pulling out of wildfire zones?
The rising food prices because key agricultural zones are under stress?
The increased ER visits for asthma and cardiac problems as smoke chokes the air?
All of that is your issue.
Climate change does not respect borders.
Neither do wildfires, or drought, or atmospheric collapse.
This is not a Canadian disaster.
It is a planetary emergency, playing out one ecosystem, one community, one catastrophe at a time.
🔥 Whose Fault Is It?
You want to know who’s to blame?
We all are.
Everyone who said climate change was “a hoax.”
Everyone who shrugged it off as someone else’s problem.
Everyone who mocked Greta Thunberg instead of listening to her.
Everyone who kept driving, building, consuming, electing, and investing like the planet wasn’t gasping for air.
And especially everyone who is still doing those things — even now. Even while it burns.
This didn’t happen overnight. We were warned. For decades.
But instead of building firefighting capacity, we cut budgets.
Instead of replanting forests, we cleared more for profit.
Instead of ending fossil fuel dependence, we subsidized it.
Now we are reaping what we’ve sown — and what we’ve scorched.
🛑 It Doesn’t Have to End Like This
There is still time — but not much.
If we get serious — right now — we can slow this down.
That means climate policy with teeth, not just talk.
It means public education and climate adaptation programs at every level of government.
It means supporting firefighters, funding ecological science, and taking real steps to stop the endless cycle of extraction and destruction.
We need to reforest.
We need to restore.
We need to rethink everything we thought was normal.
Because this? This isn’t normal.
This is collapse.
And if we don’t change course, it’s coming for us next.
✊ So What Can You Do?
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Speak up. Share real information. Help others understand the scale of the crisis.
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Hold leaders accountable. Local, state, national. If they’re not treating climate change like the emergency it is — they’re part of the problem.
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Support firefighters and emergency responders. They are being asked to do the impossible.
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Live differently. No, you can’t stop wildfires by recycling your soda can. But every action matters. And every example helps shift culture.
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Vote. Every time. For the climate. For the future.
⛔ Final Thought
When a forest burns, it doesn’t ask if you believe in climate change.
It just burns.
So the next time the sky turns brown, and the air tastes like fire,
Don’t just close your windows.
Open your eyes, please.
Thank you for reading this installment of Behind The Alarm! Check back as we tackle another topic from behind the alarm. Have questions or suggestions? We’d love to hear from you!
This article first appeared in Behind The Alarm, the newsletter of Fred R. LaPoint, Fire Chief Paramedic of the Stronach Township Fire Department, on August 5, 2025. Read the original.