Maine’s wildfire threat is quietly heating up

INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS • September 7, 2026

The Northeast’s fire season has been quietly heating up. Historically, New England states have been rainy enough to avoid massive, devastating wildfires. In Maine, for instance, most fires are extinguished before they surpass an acre. But in 2025, severe drought quadrupled Maine’s late-summer fire activity. Across the border, Nova Scotia saw its largest wildfires in recorded history in 2023, and more than 10 million acres burned in Quebec, creating a smoky haze that spread thousands of miles southward. Canadian wildfires created haze on the East Coast again this July. As forest managers and firefighters stretch their resources to respond to wildfires in a changing climate, they’re also dealing with new uncertainties from the Trump administration’s plans to radically alter the Forest Service and the new Wildland Fire Service.