Fire and Climate: Connecting the Dots in British Columbia News Media

Background: Extreme weather events are intensifying with climate change, offering opportunities to raise the public urgency of this issue. The media's role in communicating this connection is crucial. Analysis: This article analyzes media coverage of wildfires over a nine-year period in British Columbia focusing on how they are linked to climate change, in particular, during the 2017 and 2018 record-breaking fire seasons. Conclusion and implications: In media coverage in British Columbia, there is a marked absence of a link between climate change and wildfires and a tendency for connections to be tokenistic, decontextualized, and normalizing. More provocative narratives developed by various public figures that locate wildfires within broader narratives of climate crisis offer more compelling accounts.