Wildfire activity is picking up in Alberta but officials predict an average season

Fire activity has been picking up in recent days, but officials with Alberta Wildfire say the province is in better shape this season, compared to the last.

Alberta Wildfire says new technology for tackling weather conditions, and a snowy spring are positive early indicators pointing to a comparatively tame fire season.

"We are still looking good for a much more average season than we've seen in the last couple of years," Christie Tucker, information unit lead for Alberta Wildfire said in a news conference Thursday.

This time last year, there were already about 50 wildfires burning across the province. As of April 10 of this year, there are nine, eight of which remain under control. A fire in the High Level Forest Area is being held.

One of those is a mutual aid fire, meaning it falls outside the forest protection area and is fought by another agency, with the assistance of Alberta Wildfire.

Todd Loewen, minister of forestry and parks, said in addition to weather, the lower volume is also due to an effective firefighting effort of holdover fires from last season.

"Going into this season, I would say, 'cautiously optimistic' — but we know we do have challenges coming forward," Loewen said.

He added there are parts of Alberta that do not have as much snow as they hoped for — particularly in the eastern slopes and some parts of the far north. 

"We know we're going to have fires, it's just a matter of how many and how intense," Loewen said.

Maps from Natural Resources Canada indicate areas of high, very high and extreme fire danger in southern and central Alberta — risks that have only emerged in the last week.

New tech

One other lesson learned from last season, Loewen said, is the value of fighting fires at night. The government is adding a new night helicopter to its fleet.

The province has 150 weather stations, with 14 remote stations that are portable. New stations and upgrades to existing stations will provide greater accuracy and flexibility in tracking fire activity.

It's part of a $900,000 investment over three years from the province. Loewen said tracking conditions is one of the best tools for fighting fires going forward.

"We can use this information to read things like the humidity in the air, the wind and the temperature, as well as how much rain we've received," Tucker said.  

The mobile remote machines give firefighters the ability to actually put them on an active wildfire site and make decisions about how resources are deployed.

"We've seen what kind of effect strong winds can have on a wildfire, most recently obviously in California, in Jasper," Tucker said.

"It can cause incredible wildfire behaviour and that's something we want to know about as soon as possible so we can prepare and adjust our tactics accordingly."