Canadian Wildland Fire Information System
Fire M3 Hotspots
A hotspot is a satellite image pixel with infrared intensities typical of burning vegetation. A hotspot may represent one fire or be one of several hotspots representing a larger fire. Almost all hotspots indicate forest fires; however, not all fires can be identified from satellite images, usually because of cloud cover.
The Fire Weather Index is a component of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System. It is a numeric rating of fire intensity. It combines the Initial Spread Index (a numerical rating of the expected rate of fire spread) and the Buildup Index (a numerical rating of the total amount of fuel available for combustion). It is suitable as a general index of fire danger throughout the forested areas of Canada.
Forecasted weather data provided by Environment Canada. More information about forecasted weather is available in Background Information.
More information about Fire M3 is available in Background Information.
Smoke Forecasts for Western Canada available at: http://www.bcairquality.ca/bluesky/.
Fire M3 maps and reports are updated daily from May through September.