The word hectare is often used as the unit of measurement when we talk about wildfires, and with the many wildfires currently burning across B.C., some may be wondering, just how big is a hectare?
1 square km is 100 hectares
1 square mile is 258.999 hectaress
10000 square metres is hectare
The best comparison for how big one hectare would be a sports field. The Apple Bowl in Kelowna is a 400-metre running track, and the grassy area inside is 1.12 hectares.
Photo Credit: Google EarthThe Apple Bowl Kelowna
Most fields are comparable to one hectare in size, so you can imagine just how big a fire such as the Plateau fire is, which is currently the largest fire in B.C.’s history, estimated at 517,140 hectares.
The entire province of Prince Edward Island is 568,000 hectares, or 1.4 million acres.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
For the fires burning on the Canada U.S. border, the U.S. Forestry Service uses acres to map wildfires. One hectare is approximately 2.47 acres.
