Steve Pyne is a unique historian who is solely dedicated to studying fires. Pyne’s expertise provides him with a distinct viewpoint on Canada’s current wildfires. He believes that while it is not unprecedented to have fires burning at both ends of Canada, the historic nature of the situation lies in the response to it, which is now global. In the past, fires were considered a normal part of life and nature, and people had different ways of dealing with them. Pyne believes that we can learn a lot about fires by remembering what we have forgotten. Media reports often blame climate change as the main cause of today’s fires, but Pyne argues that modern forestry and land-use practices have added fuel to the flames. With more land being settled, there is now less tolerance for fire, and the primary approach is to eradicate it with machinery. However, this goes against the natural way of the land, in which forests burn and replenish, creating more resilient forests. Pyne emphasizes that humans have increased fire risk in many ways, including changing land-use, transport systems, logging and agriculture techniques, and the way we build our cities, and that preventative measures must be taken. Pyne concludes by asking why academia’s lack of interest in the subject of fire is surprising, given that it defines humans in many ways.