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VANCOUVER — British Columbia hasn't yet hit the "peak" of its wildfire season, but it has already broken the record for the total area burned in a year, the province's minister of emergency management said.

British Columbia's wildfire season is now the most destructive on record, with about 14,000 square kilometres of the province burned, surpassing the previous high of 13,543 square kilometres set in 2018.

Firefighters battling hundreds of blazes in British Columbia say they've been facing more than the usual obstacles when "irresponsible" members of the public interfere with operations.

"The models do not look terrific for the rest of the summer," said Cliff Chapman, director of operations at BC Wildfire Service.

NEW YORK (AP) — People around the world are living longer, healthier lives than they were just half a century ago. Climate change threatens to undo that progress.

The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment says a nine-year-old B.C. boy who died from asthma exacerbated by wildfire smoke is the face of the climate crisis in Canada.

Modelling forest fires and forecasting fire behaviour is a complex endeavour.

VICTORIA — British Columbia's coroner has issued a public safety bulletin about wildfire smoke, saying the death of a nine-year-old boy had been "confirmed by his parents" to have been related to a medical condition aggravated by the smoke.

The four worst seasons in B.C.'s history have all come in the last six years.

The Canadian Armed Forces says the first troops to help in British Columbia's wildfire fight have arrived in the province, with more soldiers, helicopters and a Hercules plane poised for deployment.