CWFIS Datamart

Fire History Data

National Burned Area Composite

The National Burned Area Composite (NBAC) is a GIS database and system that calculates the area of forest burned on a national scale for each year since 1986. The data are used to help estimate carbon emissions in Canada. The burned area is determined by evaluating a number of available sources of data, which use different techniques to map any given fire. The system chooses the best available source of data for each burned area and builds a national composite picture.

National Fire Database fire polygon data

The National Fire Database fire polygon data is a collection of forest fire perimeters as provided by Canadian fire management agencies including provinces, territories, and Parks Canada.

National Fire Database fire point data

The National Fire Database fire point data is a collection of forest fire locations as provided by Canadian fire management agencies including provinces, territories, and Parks Canada.

Large Fire Database fire point data

The Large Fire Database (LFDB) is a collection of forest fire locations as provided by Canadian fire management agencies including provinces, territories, and Parks Canada. The data set includes only fires greater than 200 hectares in final size for years 1959 through 1999. This version was released in May 2002, and a detailed analysis was published by Stocks et al. in 2002. The LFDB is no longer maintained, but it has been replaced by the National Fire Database.

Alberta Smoke Plume Observations data

Observations of 222 plumes were collected from 21 towers over a six-year period from 2010 to 2015.

Current Conditions

Fire M3 Hotspots

A hotspot is a satellite image pixel with high infrared intensity, indicating a heat source. Hotspots from known industrial sources are removed; the remaining hotspots represent vegetation fires, which can be in forest, grass, cropland, or logging debris. A hotspot may represent one fire or be one of several hotspots representing a larger fire. Not all fires can be identified from satellite imagery, either because the fires are too small or because cloud cover obscures the satellite's view of the ground.

Fire Perimeter Estimate

Satellite detected hotspots can be used to produce approximate burned area perimeters in near-real time. The Fire Perimeter Estimates layer on the CWFIS Interactive map shows the estimated extent of area burned to date and is generated by combining and processing the season-to-date hotspots.

Fire Danger

Fire Danger is a relative index of how easy it is to ignite vegetation, how difficult a fire may be to control, and how much damage a fire may do.

Active Wildland Fires

Reported active fire locations are updated daily as provided by fire management agencies (provinces, territories and Parks Canada).

Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System - Daily maps

The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System consists of six components that account for the effects of fuel moisture and weather conditions on fire behavior.

Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System - Daily maps

The Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System provides quantitative estimates of potential head fire spread rate, fuel consumption, and fire intensity, as well as fire descriptions.