The area burned by wildland fire during the period 1977-1981 is reviewed, classified according to forest fire control agency. A breakdown of area burned by timber merchantability class for the period 1976-1980, but without agency detail, is also given. Original data on the area protected by each of the 14 agencies, broken down by priority zone, plus comparative data on the areas of total land and total forest land, are presented in an introductory section. Emphasis is placed throughout on graphics drawn to scale, and on the identification of data inadequacies. The annual total area burned averaged about three times the mean annual area harvested for the 1976-1980 period, although only one-sixth of that was 'merchantable timber.' Over 75% of the five-year mean annual area burned was classified as 'cutover and other area,' 17% was 'merchantable timber' and 8%, 'regeneration and inmature.' A tendency toward higher total burned area was evident between 1977 and 1981, although the number of fires remained relatively constant. All-time records were set in 1980 and again in 1981 (54 100 km2). The average recorded was 29 398 km2, the total area protected in Canada.