Wildfires are once again raging in Canada, impacting air quality but also lumber supplies for the North American market. The most immediate sign of the fires has been the effect on the atmosphere, creating smoke conditions in the northern United States. However, this year’s wildfires are once again destroying millions of acres of forest, a key resource for the Canadian building trade. And while experts are saying the fires so far are not quite as bad as they have been in recent years, the impact is still substantial.
Reports from authorities monitoring the situation say that so far, 7.4 million acres of forest land have burned through the end of July and that many fires are ongoing. Close to 4,000 individual fires have been reported. Ontario province appears to be the hardest hit, with 1.7 million acres burned but other affected areas are in British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
Canadian authorities do not specify how many individual trees have burned or how this has impacted the lumber supply, but the Globawoodmarketsinfo.com website reported that lumber prices at $640 per thousand board feet are at their highest level in a year. The fires are also impacting mills, some of which have reportedly been shut down and their workers evacuated.
So far, the 2026 season has not reached the levels of 2023 through 2025 when it’s estimated that 10 percent of Canada’s forests were burned and destroyed.
And none of this pressure on prices takes into account the latest threat of higher tariffs on Canadian wood products announced by President Trump earlier this month. Taken with the wildfires, it would seem to indicate another year of higher lumber prices and finished goods from Canada, the largest source for the U.S. building trade.
