The 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive one ever recorded in Canada, according to new research from two universities in Ontario.

"Four of the yearSA国际影视传媒檚 wildfires in mine-impacted areas around Yellowknife, Northwest Territories potentially contributed up to half of the arsenic that wildfires emit globally each year," stated a paper published earlier this month.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo and Nipissing University estimate the wildfires potentially released between 69 and 183 tonnes of arsenic. Arsenic, as described by the World Health Organization, is toxic in its inorganic form and most dangerous when contaminating water. 

Owen Sutton, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo and lead author of the paper, said the study relied on open-source material and took about eight months to complete, starting around the same time as last year's wildfire season in Yellowknife.

"When we saw the numbers that we were getting, we were pretty startled," he said. "And we were concerned."

Sutton added there's work that needs getting done before determining just how at risk people are.

But arsenic might not be the only danger, he added.

"We are looking at the whole Northern Hemisphere, and we're trying to quantify all metals that are being released by wildfires," said Sutton. "We're also looking at lead and nickel and copper and some of these other compounds that have toxic effects that we think are not being fully appreciated and the public is not really aware of."

That doesn't mean that each wildfire is producing the equal amounts of metals that are all equally as dangerous, Sutton said.

Specifically, Sutton mentioned arsenic that was released as part of ore roasting for gold mining that was then deposited in about a 30-kilometre radius around the Giant Mine roaster stack.

"That is the arsenic that is both wildfire vulnerable and has really elevated concentrations compared to the surrounding landscape," said Sutton. "That should definitely be a priority for firefighting." 

Sutton explained that a typical wildfire can be around 400 to 500 square kilometres, which is about a fifth of what burned last year around Yellowknife, he said. 

"If that happened within 15 kilometres within the city, then that would release more arsenic than the largest wildfire on record," he said.

The amount of arsenic released by wildfires depends on a multitude of factors, such as fire temperature, depth of the burn, soil type, and the combination of these variables.

SA国际影视传媒淲hile our research has raised the alarm on this issue, we will be the first to argue there is an urgent need for collaborative investigation by wildfire scientists, chemists, environmental scientists and policy experts,SA国际影视传媒� stated Dr. Colin McCarter, a geography professor at Nipissing University. SA国际影视传媒淏y integrating diverse fire management techniques, including Indigenous fire stewardship, we can hopefully mitigate these emerging risks to human and environmental health.SA国际影视传媒�