Archived reports

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

Priority fires

Area Burned can appear as though at is has gone down due to mapping corrections. Wildfire Agencies estimate area burned and map as conditions allow.

British Columbia: • Kamloops Fire Centre: McDougall Creek (K52767), Stein Mountain (K71634), Bush Creek East (K21633), Ross Moore Lake (K22024), Crater Creek (K52125), Upper Park Rill Creek (K52813), Casper Creek (K71535) • Coastal Fire Centre: Kookipi Creek (V11337) • Prince George Fire Centre: Greer Creek (G41511), Great Beaver Lake (G51279), Whitefish Lake (G51564)

Northwest Territories: • South Slave Region – Kakisa Fire (SS052), Wood Buffalo National Park Wildfires, Alberta/Wood Buffalo National Park/Northwest Territories Complex (SS069/WB07/WB05/SS022/SS017/MNZ003) • North Slave Region – North Slave Complex: Behchok??/Yellowknife (ZF015), Ingraham /ZFTrail Wildfire (ZF011), Dettah Fore (ZF085), North of Yellowknife (ZF012).

Interagency mobilization

Canada is at national preparedness level 5, indicating full commitment of national resources is ongoing, demand for resources is extreme, and international resources are being mobilized. British Columbia is at Preparedness Level 5, Northwest Territories and Parks Canada are at Preparedness Level 4, all other agencies are at Preparedness Level 1 or 2.

The number of fires is well above average for this time of year, and well above the average for area burned for this time of year. The ten-year average of cumulative area burned is 2,622,334 hectares for this day. There was 153 net new fire starts, with 80 of those attributed to lightning reported over the last week.

At the time of this report, aircraft, personnel, and equipment have been mobilized to British Columbia, Alberta, Northwest Territories, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Parks Canada from across Canada and internationally. There are, Australian, New Zealand, Mexican, and South African personnel active in Canada. The United States is at preparedness level 4, which indicates significant wildland fire activity is occurring in multiple geographic areas and significant commitment of Incident Management Teams.

Weekly Synopsis

British Columbia: On August 18, 2023, the Province of British Columbia (BC) declared a Provincial State of Emergency, under the authority of the Emergency Program Act, to support ongoing response and recovery efforts caused by wildfires. It is expected to remain in place for two weeks, until September 1, 2023. All open burning, including campfires, is prohibited across the province except for except in the Northwest and Prince George Regions. There are area restriction orders in both Northwest Fire Centre and Southeast Fire Centre regions.

Yukon, there are no campfire bans in place right now. Normal summer burning rules must be followed across the territory when the fire danger of fire or existing fire activity is unusually high.

Alberta has fire bans and restrictions in the southern and foothills regions of the province. There are fire advisories in the northeast, central, and foothills regions.

The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) has declared a Territorial State of Emergency. A fire ban is in place for all public and private lands in the North Slave and South Slave Regions and may be extended if necessary. Fire bans are in effect at many NWT Parks. Visit nwtparks.ca for listing of campgrounds with active fire bans.

Saskatchewan has widespread fire bans in the west central and southwest regions of the province.

New Brunswick has a provincial Category 1 burn restriction in place, where permits, burn plans and pre-inspection by a forest service officer are required, between the hours of 8pm and 8am. Prince Edward Island for Category 1 fires, you must check the Burn Restrictions below before you may burn. For Category 2, 3, or 4 fires, you must hold a valid burn permit and you must check the Fire Weather Index (FWI) below before you may burn. Nova Scotia burning is allowed between 2:00 pm and 8:00 am on the eastern across all regions of the province.

Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador have no provincial/territorial fire restrictions in place.

Plentiful hotspots – heat signatures from satellite instruments – are clustered in central and northeast British Columbia, the Northwest Territories south of Whati, and northern Alberta, indicating continued very active fire. Less widespread fire is apparent in southern British Columbia, Yukon, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba although cloud is obscuring much of southern British Columbia. Weather events will promote continued active fire over the next few days as the large dry ridge that covered western Canada is flattening and moving east as Pacific low pressure areas begin to advance across western Canada. One of these systems is moving along the 49th parallel today and giving scattered showers or thundershowers in southern British Columbia through southern Saskatchewan. An elongated trough is moving onto the BC coast and is spreading showers or thundershowers into parts of northern BC and Yukon. Warm and dry air still covers northern Alberta, northeastern BC, the southern Northwest Territories, and most of eastern Saskatchewan through western Ontario. A low pressure area providing generous rainfall in Atlantic Canada may draw limited moisture out of Hurricane Franklin, which sits in the Atlantic east of Virginia.

Prognosis

The cluster of low pressure systems moving into western Canada generates spotty showers and thundershowers, which may contribute to additional fires over the next few days. Of greatest concern is a system moving across the central Northwest Territories, which will kick up moderate winds close to the 60th parallel, first from the south or southwest, then switching to west and northwest as the system moves into Nunavut. This may contribute to fire growth Friday and Saturday (September 1-2). Most rain from this system will be confined to the central and northern parts of the Northwest Territories, although isolated thundershowers further south may trigger new fires. Generally dry and warm conditions south of this track will allow fire weather indexes to rise, and spotty thundershowers from fast-moving systems may also contribute a few new fires between British Columbia and Ontario. In eastern Canada, rain clears out before Friday, September 1 and allows a drying trend and rising indexes, although the recent rain will hold fire activity to a minimum.