The Incredible Size of Canada's Wildfires

Canada is mourning the deaths of two firefighters that lost their lives fighting the country's raging wildfires last week. In a statement made on Sunday, the British Columbia wildfire service said of one of the deceased, 19-year-old Devyn Gale: “She personified the iconic reds and blues of wildland firefighting in British Columbia: she was bravery, grit, hard work, determination, leadership and selflessness,” adding: “She was one of us. She was the heart of us.”

Firefighters have extinguished hundreds of blazes in their fight against this unprecedented wildfire season. Currently, 204 are classified as 'under control' and 105 are 'being held'. Still though, 598 are 'out of control'.

As this infographic shows, the size of the total area burned in the country so far this year is huge, and far higher than the ten-year average for this stage of the year. The 10.2 million hectares of burned land compare to a recent average of just 1.4 million and already represent the worst wildfire season on record - a period which stretches from May to September.

For context, the whole of South Korea covers an area of 10 million hectares.