What's at the heart of Sask.'s early wildfire season? Humans, in more ways than one

Four in five of the wildfires so far in Saskatchewan this year have been caused by humans — the vast majority of them accidentally. But experts say part of the reason they've spread so far, so fast, is another human factor: climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

On the Canadian Prairies this year, the face of "classic climate change" has been the hot and dry conditions that contributed to an aggressive, early wildfire season, with 259 fires reported in Saskatchewan so far, compared to the five-year average of 148 by this time.

While the provincial government is quick to condemn those who may have started any fires, it is just as quick to defend the fossil fuel industry.

This week, for example, Premier Scott Moe was adamant that someone had been charged with arson in relation to one of the major fires that forced people from their homes, a statement that he doubled down on a few days later. The province later went back on that statement.

Conversely, when asked about Saskatchewan's production of the fossil fuels that contribute to climate change, Moe defended them.

"When it comes to what Saskatchewan is producing from a carbon perspective, we should produce more of it and we should displace the much dirtier products in other areas of the world that are having a much larger impact on climate change," he said on Friday.

What about the arson claim?

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency has said that about 80 per cent of the fires in the province this year have been the result of human activity. The vast majority of those were caused accidentally by things like a campfire that got away, a spark from an ATV or a controlled burn that wasn't properly monitored.

But 30 fires are being investigated for possibly being intentionally set.

Moe made headlines last week when he was the first to announce that arson charges were laid in two fires, specifically mentioning the Ditch fire that started by Weyakwin. That fire was reported to the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency on May 26 and has since grown to more than 170,000 hectares in size.

In response to media inquiries about Moe's announcement, the RCMP issued a news release later that day detailing arson charges laid in relation to fires that were started on May 28 and June 3.

CBC News attempted to get clarification on whether the Ditch fire was a result of arson, including at a news conference on Wednesday this week. When asked about the fact the dates didn't line up, Moe responded, "You might want to look at that … My understanding is that allegedly that fire was lit by an individual. We can get back to you on the details."

Those details were finally clarified Thursday evening in an email from Matthew Glover, the executive director of communications and media relations for the government's executive council.

"Presently there are 30 incidents under active investigation by the SPSA. While the RCMP have only laid charges in two cases so far, we don't yet know the outcome of the rest," Glover wrote. "Unfortunately, there was some confusion regarding the ditch fire and a fire set in a ditch. For that I do apologize."

The role of climate change

The world has already warmed 1.3 C above pre-industrial times. Climate scientists say the atmospheric warming, mainly from the human burning of fossil fuels, is causing ever more extreme and damaging weather.

Moe said on Friday that he agrees that climate change is a threat, but that Saskatchewan's fossil-fuelled energy products are cleaner than the alternatives from Venezuela, Russia or Belarus.

"We need to be making every effort to reduce the carbon content of what we are producing in Saskatchewan and ultimately eliminating our carbon that is emitted into the atmosphere," Moe said. "And I think in many cases you're seeing Saskatchewan industries do that."

Peter Prebble, a board member with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society, said what we're experiencing in Western Canada with the worsening wildfires is part of a global trend being seen around the world — including in Russia, the Mediterranean and Australia.

He said it's "ironic" that as the fire season ramped up late last month and Saskatchewan hosted Prime Minister Mark Carney for the first ministers' meeting on May 26, Moe's major demands were about unravelling federal climate change policy.

"[Moe] doesn't want to close coal-fired power plants in this province … He's dropped the industrial greenhouse gas emission tax on large industrial heavy emitters," Prebble said in an interview. "And he's wound back the energy efficiency standards that Saskatchewan was operating on."

Prebble said Saskatchewan is "very accustomed" to getting significant revenue from the export of fossil fuels, and there's obviously a lot of jobs associated with the industry. But the displacement of thousands of residents due to evacuations, and the smoke blanketing the province, should be a wake-up call about getting serious about climate change.

"The response has been weak," he said. "And in Saskatchewan, the response has been disgraceful."