Another record-breaking wildfire season comes to an end in Alberta

Alberta’s wildfire season has officially ended and 2024 was yet another record-breaking year.

Alberta Wildfire was preparing for elevated fire activity from day one of the season.

“This year we expected a busy season on the heels of 2023 and it was busy, it was challenging,” said Alberta Wildfire information officer Josée St-Onge.

The province’s wildfire season wrapped up on Oct. 31, but it had an early start — initial fire bans were issued on Feb. 20.

“There was a lot of fire on the landscape in the spring already. May was pretty busy which is typical for Alberta. Then we saw some rain which slowed things down for the end of May and June,” said St-Onge.

From then on things picked up.

The wildfire agency responded to 1,210 wildfires this year, exceeding last year’s record-breaking total of 1,080.

Even though we had more fires, fewer hectares burned this year.

In 2024, 705,000 hectares burned, down 68 per cent from the 2.2 million hectares scorched in 2023.

Typically a significant amount of wildfires are started by humans, but in 2024 nature played a huge role.

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“This year we did see more lightning fires than usual. So about half of them were caused by lightning with the biggest concentration coming in July,” said St-Onge.

Of the 705,000 hectares burned, nearly 33,000 were in Jasper National Park — one of the largest wildfires in the province this year.

With that in mind, the province is now focusing on how to avoid another devastating blaze like it.

“Making sure we have communities prepared for fire, to make sure that we keep the fires back from our communities. I think we’ll see a greater focus on community fire guard program which we started last fall,” said Todd Loewen, Minister of Forestry and Parks.

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The wildfire agency had nearly 2,000 firefighters, contractors and support staff working on Alberta’s provincial response. The province also received support from more than 1,300 firefighters from other countries.

“The 2024 wildfire season underscored the importance of early planning and preparation. Investments in people, resources and new technology proved invaluable in our response efforts,” said  Wildfire Management Branch executive director Trevor Lamabe.

Although there aren’t many hot days expected in the forecast, St-Onge says Alberta Wildfire is asking Albertans to stay vigilant and do their part.

“Just because it’s cold, doesn’t mean that wildfires can’t start.”

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