Vegetation Land Cover and Forest Fires in Canada: An Analytical Data Visualization

Forest fires or wildfires are becoming more prevalent across Canada. They are both beneficial and harmful. They promote forest health and aid ecological processes. However, they play a devastating role in impacting the economy of a nation and also impact the health of humans. Hence, it is important to consider all data sources relevant to forest fires or wildfires. The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS) calculates the danger of forest fires. The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System is a critical part of CWFIS, which does not consider land vegetation in its calculations. Considering it is the vegetation that burns in a forest fire, it is important to have an insight into what types of vegetation are more prone to fires. Earth observation data for vegetation over land is now available across North America. This research primarily provides an analytical data visualization of the vegetation land cover impacted by and impacting forest fires. We look into open-source vegetation land cover data and provide insights into forest fires or wildfires. A look into the change of vegetation is also provided.