TORONTO, Canada, Aug 21, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The threat from a wildfire that engulfed a mountain in western Canada was downgraded Wednesday, with local officials saying there was "no longer a risk to life and safety" in the area.

The Mount Underwood fire on Vancouver Island was one of several major blazes this summer in Canada, which is enduring its second worst wildfire season, based on data going back to 1983.

Nearly 20,000 people in the city of Port Alberni, in British Columbia province, had been on standby to evacuate for more than a week.

"We are deeply relieved that the fire has not grown and, with that stability, are rescinding the evacuation alert," Port Alberni's Mayor Sharie Minions said in a statement.

"This has been a challenging event," she added.

Across Canada, 7.6 million hectares (18.8 million acres) have been scorched this year -- an area roughly the size of Panama.

That puts 2025 past the 7.1 million hectare mark from 1995, which had been the country's second worst wildfire season on record.

But this year is not expected to pass 2023, when 17.3 million hectares burned, an extraordinary toll that focused global attention on the growing threat of wildfires boosted by human-induced climate change.

The Mount Underwood fire was part of a worrying trend of increased wildfire activity near the coast.

Experts have said that historically coastal areas did not burn, but more serious wildfires near the ocean are being recorded, even if they remain less intense than blazes further inland.

Canada is experiencing a rise in conditions that are conducive to fires, experts say, linking the trend to climate change, which has caused elevated temperatures, reduced snow, shorter and milder winters, and earlier summer weather.