by IntelliMassWhy now
The increasing strain on our roads.
A decade of data points one way: wildfires are becoming more frequent, more severe and more costly — putting unprecedented pressure on the remote road networks communities fall back on when the highway closes. The roads people evacuate on are among the least-understood infrastructure in the country, and they carry the most weight on the worst day.
A decade in four numbers.
These are widely reported figures, included here for context — not a claim about any specific community's risk. Sources: CIFFC / Statista (Canada), NIFC (United States), UNEP (projections).
Canada's fire seasons are off the historical chart.
Canada's 2023 wildfire season burned roughly seven times the historical average — more than the previous record, and an area comparable to a mid-sized country. The trend line over the last two decades slopes one way, and climate projections extend it: +14% extreme fire events by 2030, +30% by 2050. The exceptional season is becoming the ordinary one.
The record years are arriving closer together, not once a generation. Planning around a historical average no longer matches the risk.
Hundreds of thousands evacuated across recent seasons — most of them down rural and back roads, not highways.
When a fire jumps a lake or a ridge, the question is which road is passable now — a question that has to be answered before the smoke, not during it.
Major wildfire disasters, 2016–2025.
Each of these forced mass evacuations and underlined the same gap: communities need to know the condition of the roads out before they need them. Economic damage, widely reported estimates in USD.
Los Angeles, January 2025: a wake-up call.
The Palisades and Eaton fires became the costliest wildfire event ever recorded globally — proof that no community is immune, and that dense, well-mapped places still struggle when everyone moves at once. The lesson for remote communities, where the roads out are gravel and the maps are thin, is sharper still.
Figures as widely reported in early 2025, included for context. They are not a claim about any specific community's risk or preparedness.
What scientists project.
Increase in extreme fire events projected globally.
Extreme fires projected. 2023's conditions may become the norm.
Increase in wildfire frequency, even under best-case scenarios.
Projections from UNEP research, included for context. The point isn't a specific number — it's the direction, and the fact that the roads communities depend on are getting more important, not less.
What it means for the roads out
Knowing the condition of your routes isn't optional any more.
With risk rising every season, the condition of a community's evacuation corridors — surface, culverts, bridges, choke points — is safety information, not a maintenance footnote. BackRoadIntel's evacuation-readiness program exists to put that condition on a dated record, held by the community, before the season it's needed in.
Document your evacuation routes before the season.
Tell us your community or region and we'll show you what a dated record of your egress corridors looks like.