ABSTRACT
Wildfires currently consume about 2 million hectares of forest annually in Canada, and this pattern is influenced by both climate change and fire suppression strategies. Climate change and weather conditions have quadrupled the risk of bushfires compared to 1900 levels, an increase that is projected to continue through the current century. Eleven of the top 20 deadly wildfires have occurred since 2000. It was primarily in the last several years of wildfire response, in particular since 2017, that the anthropology teams began to work in more prominent roles, handling much of the recovery process and coordinating on-scene training for search and rescue teams. As of September 2019, when western states were ranked according to the wildfire risk to properties, California was ranked number one with 2,019,800 properties at risk of wildfire destruction. The State of California spent over $1 billion in fiscal year 2020/21 on emergency fire suppression.
