The fires were largely centered on Canada’s vast boreal forests, a trove of habitat for creatures such as moose, bears and songbirds and a crucial carbon bank that blankets an area larger than India, representing about a quarter of the world’s remaining intact forest.

Most of the blazes were in remote areas – but there were two firefighter deaths in July and numerous evacuations, most memorably the 20,000 citizens of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, who had to fleetheir homes in August as multiple fires converged upon the city.