Media Release: For Immediate Release, August 13th, 2025
Kassie Drodge, Energy Transition and Advocacy Coordinator with Sierra Club Canada in St. John's is organizing a mutual aid network to assist people with the wildfires.
Media can contact her via the information below and there's also a public google form with more details about how people - not engaged in other efforts - can assist with informal services via the mutual aid network. This form can be shared widely and is available here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fdpcletGyA5W9TzoPOFb7awpZ49o1_iFUx79ly2gfaU/edit
On a related note, in case you missed it last night we sent over a guide to steps people can take to reducing air pollution from wildfires in case of use: https://secure.sierraclub.ca/civicrm/mailing/view?id=3674&reset=1
Concerning climate research and the wildfires:
Heat is an important driver of wildfires and Climate Central data shows much of Newfoundland (and many parts of Labrador) experiencing high temperatures made at least 5x more likely due to climate change.
Climate-driven heat intensifies wildfires by drying out the landscape and contributing to hot, dry, windy conditions that supercharge wildfires. These conditions make it easier for fires to start and spread and harder to put out. (You can download graphics and check temperatures anytime using the Climate Shift Index tool here.)
The Climate Shift Index uses peer-reviewed methodology to determine the role of climate change on temperatures and compare it to a world without climate change and burning fossil fuels.
Kaitlyn Trudeau, Senior Research Associate, Climate Science at Climate Central says:
"Climate change, caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, is increasing the frequency and severity of fire weather across large parts of Canada. These hot, dry and windy days set the stage for extreme fire behaviour and amplify the risk of larger, more destructive wildfires. Although wildfires are natural and dynamic, until we dramatically reduce the carbon pollution we're pumping into the atmosphere, Canadians will face an increasing threat of more frequent and intense wildfires that are boosted by climate change."
-30-
For interviews on the mutual aid network:
Kassie Drodge, Energy Transition and Advocacy Coordinator, Sierra Club Canada
Phone: 709-699-3542
Email: kassied@sierraclub.ca
For interviews on climate impacts or to arrange interviews please contact:
Conor Curtis, Head of Communications, Sierra Club Canada
Phone: 709-638-0072
Email: conorc@sierraclub.ca | 
