National Wildland Fire Situation Report

National Wildland Fire Situation Report

Archived reports

Current as of: July 16, 2025

• Data courtesy of the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC).
• Check the Air Quality Health Index for air quality in your area.

Priority fires

Lower Fishing Lake Fire, Saskatchewan 25LF-SHOE This wildfire was reported on May 7, 2025, and is still out-of-control. It is approximately 554,667 hectares in size. As of July 15, Narrow Hills Provincial Park and the East Trout-Nipekamew Lakes Recreation Site remain closed due to wildfire activity.

Bird River Fire, Manitoba EA061 This wildfire is located near Bissett and Bird River. It is approximately 277,860 hectares in size and remains out-of-control. As of July 15, a closure and mandatory evacuation order continues for parts of Nopiming, Wallace Lake, and South Atikaki Provincial Parks.

Red Lake 62 Fire, Ontario RED062 This wildfire is located 8km southeast of Pikangikum. It is approximately 31,367 hectares in size and remains out-of-control. Community members have been evacuated from Pikangikum First Nation.

Interagency mobilization

Canada is at National Preparedness Level 5, indicating that there is full commitment of national resources and demand for interagency resources through the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center (CIFFC) is extreme. Since national availability of resources is limited, international resources are being mobilized.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan are at Agency Preparedness Level (APL) 5, Yukon, Northwest Territories, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Newfoundland, and Parks Canada are at level 3, Nova Scotia is at level 2, and Quebec, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island are at level 1. At APL 5, agencies have extreme Fire Danger, anticipate extreme fire Load in the next week, and do not have adequate resources to manage fires. At the time of this report, there are domestic and international personnel, aircraft, and fire fighting equipment being mobilized through CIFFC and compact agreements.

The United States is at preparedness level 4, indicating that significant wildland fire activity is occurring in multiple geographic areas, and there is heavy demand on resources from inactive/low activity geographic areas.

The number of fires is average for this time of year, but the area burned to date is significantly more than the 10-year average.

Weekly Synopsis

In British Columbia, there are Open Fire restrictions in Cariboo, Coastal, Kamloops, Southeast, Prince George, and Northwest.

In Alberta, fire bans, restrictions and advisories are concentrated in the east-central to southern regions and western regions, around Grande Prairie.

In Saskatchewan, there are fire bans and restrictions around Candle Lake, Big River, Loon Lake, Golden Prairie, Hazlet, Consul, Val Marie, Limerick, and east of Tobin Lake. There is also a Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency Ban north of the Provincial Forest Boundary Line.

In Manitoba, fire restrictions have been lifted in all areas.

There are currently no Restricted Fire Zones (RFZ) in Ontario.

In the Northwest Territories campfires are not permitted at the Hay River Territorial Park.

In Nova Scotia burning is only allowed between 7:00 pm and 8:00 am in Digby and Shelburne and Yarmouth. Burning is not allowed in any other county.

In New Brunswick, Albert Charlotte, Gloucester, Kent, Kings, Northumberland, Queens, Sunburn, Westmorland, and York are closed for burning. All other counties allow burning between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m.

In Prince Edward Island, domestic brush burning is not permitted in all three counties.

Parks Canada has fire bans and wildfire emergency alerts in effect in Grasslands National Park, Prince Albert National Park, Kejimkujik National Park and National Historic Site, and Gulf Islands National Park Reserve.

Newfoundland and Labrador requires burning permits but will suspend permits when fire hazard is high, very high or extreme for a region.

Yukon requires burning permits from April 1 to September 30, and institutes fire restrictions based on current fire danger ratings in different regions. At the time of this report, normal burning restrictions apply across the territory. Permission is required to burn organic materials and all municipal burning rules must be followed.

There are no burning restrictions in Québec.

Prognosis

Northwest pacific moisture continues to flow to the southeast, from central British Columbia and western Alberta to Ontario and central Quebec.

High pressure off the British Columbia coast will protect southern coastal areas from rain, continuing the drying trend, while chances of showers increase farther north along the coast and eastwards into the province.

Dry conditions will continue in much of the Prairies, away from the Rocky Mountains, prolonging fire activity in central Saskatchewan and Manitoba. While western Alberta will receive regular rainfall, central and eastern regions will be drier, although some convective showers or thundershowers are likely in these areas over the next few days.

Variable conditions will affect Yukon and the Northwest Territories as alternating low- and high-pressure systems move southeastward. A lack of prolonged rain will continue the trend towards dry conditions and lightning starts in many regions, although southeast Yukon and southwest Northwest Territories, especially along the mountains, will receive more rain.

Drying will commence in Ontario on the weekend of July 19-20 and move into Quebec and Atlantic Canada during the week of July 20. This will result in slowly rising fire weather indexes in eastern Canada. While New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island will likely receive some fast-moving showers Friday, July 18, and Sunday, July 20, accumulations will be light.

Given the intense wildfire activity in extreme northeastern British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, smoke continues to be an issue over parts of western and central Canada.

Weekly graphs (current as of: July 16, 2025)