National Wildland Fire Situation Report

National Wildland Fire Situation Report

Archived reports

Current as of: September 9, 2020

Current active fires Uncontrolled Being Held Controlled Modified Response 5 11 47 4

2020

(to date) 10-yr avg

(to date) % normal Prescribed U.S. Number 3,621 5,639 64 21 41,417 Area

(ha) 235,124 2,864,437 8 1,397 2,010,948

Data courtesy of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).

Check the Air Quality Health Index for air quality in your area.

Priority fires

British Columbia: 2020-N21257 currently listed as out of control at an estimated 7,937 hectares. Approximately 25 kilometres southwest of canal flats

2020-N51250 currently listed as out of control at an estimated 539 hectares. Approximately 3.5 km northwest of Hwy 6 and about 30 km north of Castlegar.

Interagency mobilization

Following a years-long series of extreme wildland fire seasons, 2020 has been one of Canada’s quietist since the 1990s. The national wildfire preparedness level remained at Level 1 most of the summer, indicating fire management agencies had adequate resources to respond to fire events without assistance from other jurisdictions (provinces, territories, or international support). A brief period of Level 2 occurred between June 19 and July 12, in which more than one province or territory saw significant fire activity, with moderate resource-sharing required.

The United States is at preparedness level 5 with significant fires on the west cost extending from Washington through California.

Weekly Synopsis

As of September 9, Canada has had 3,621 fires and a total of about 235,124 hectares burned. Overall, theses values are lower than the national 5-, 10-, and 15-year averages. Canada’s 10-year average is 5,639 fires and 2,864,437 ha burned.

This has been a relatively quiet fire year on a national level, with many jurisdictions proactively enacting fire bans and wide scale restrictions early in the spring due to COVID-19 measures. The national preparedness level did not reach level 4 or 5 this year, unlike 2017 and 2018 where a large portion of the summer was spent at preparedness level 5.

Regionally, Quebec experienced one of its most active fire seasons in a decade, seeing 674 fires and a total area of 68,768 total hectares (ha) burned; Quebec’s 10 year average is 461 fires and 235,767 ha. Other regions also saw periods of active fire, although total numbers of fires and area burned in most regions were well below their respective 10-year averages. Saskatchewan and Manitoba saw fires of over 25,000 ha in early spring. Southeast British Columbia is continuing to see active wildland fire.

British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, are all reporting less than 10% of their average area burned for the year, and all of these provinces typically contribute significantly to the total area burned in the country. Interface fires this year caused evacuations of communities in Northern Ontario, Manitoba, and Southern British Columbia.

Weekly national situation reports will resume April 2021.

Prognosis

We will not be providing a weather prognosis this week.

Current graphs