Alberta wildfire season off to quiet start

Alberta has seen fewer than half the number of fires this year compared to last year.

Alberta Wildfire information officer Melissa Story said the province has had a quiet start to the 2020 wildfire season.

So far this year, 323 wildfires have ignited across the province that have burned just over 700 hectares.

“Last year at this time, we had around 650 that had burned almost 475,000 hectares of land. So it’s quite the difference,” Story said. “The five-year average for us at this time is 700 wildfires and the five-year average is burning about 240,000 hectares.”

Last summer, wildfire firefighters battled a number of large fires, including the Chuckegg Creek fire that sparked near High Level.

It burned 350,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of 3,000 people from the northern Alberta town.

The Chuckegg Creek fire flared up again this spring, but it is classified as under control, Story said.

“When we do have substantial wildfires like that, they do tend to burn deep into the ground and resurface in the springtime,” Story said. “So we continue to go back and check on them until they are fully extinguished.”

RAINFALL A SIGNIFICANT FACTOR

However, rainfall at the start of the season has also been a significant factor in reducing the number of fires this year.

“We also had a fire ban in place that was in place for over several weeks in April and May that helped lower the number of human-caused wildfires that might have otherwise occurred for us,” Story said.

May is typically the month the biggest and most aggressive wildfires flare up because the ground is dry and things haven’t completely greened up yet.

Scientists have said Alberta fires show climate change in action.

“Now that everything out in the forest area has turned green, it’s likely that the time of increased wildfire danger will be delayed until later in the summer,” Story said.

Of the 323 fires that have ignited so far this year, 278 have been human-caused, 10 were caused by a lightning strike and 35 are still under investigation.

PANDEMIC MAY HAVE PLAYED PART

While the wet weather has played a main role in reducing the number of fires, Story said the pandemic may have also helped with more people staying at home.

“That certainly reduced the amount of people that are out in the forested areas, which could have been a result in less human-caused wildfires for us.”

But the province isn’t out of the danger zone. Story said July and August is when they typically see more lightning.

“We definitely have resources pre-positioned across the province to action any fire should they come up,” Story said.

“If we see any stretches of time without rain, that can certainly cause the forest to dry up quickly and the wildfire to increase but the hazard isn’t very high right now.”

A fire advisory is currently in place in Alberta’s Forest Protection Area.

Updates on fire bans and advisories can be found at albertafirebans.ca.