Wildfire season officially ended on October 31 and fire permits are no longer required until March 1. You are still responsible for the safe maintenance of any fires and for fully extinguishing winter burns.
Please ensure that you monitor weather conditions to prevent smoke issues or an escaped wildfire and have sufficient firefighting equipment nearby.
If you see smoke or flame and suspect it's a wildfire, call 310-FIRE.
Plan your burns when an inversion isn't in the forecast. If you see smoke rising directly into the atmosphere, that's the best time to burn when considering managing smoke.
SMOKE MANAGEMENT AND INVERSIONS
Before you burn check the weather forecast. If an inversion is expected, smoke can be trapped close to the ground overnight reducing visibility and causing dangerous driving conditions and can affects those with smoke related health concerns.
What is an inversion?
As temperatures start to cool early in the evening, the air closest to the earth’s surface will cool faster than the air above the surface. This is opposite of what air normally does. Normally air cools with the increase of height above the surface. The heat from the surface of the land is radiated back up into the atmosphere, warming the air above this shallow area near the ground, and since cold air is denser than warm air, the areas near the surface become colder than above.
The inversion happens when cold air is trapped near the ground by warmer air. The cool air near the surface cannot escape upwards and this creates a layer in which smoke from winter burning is trapped along the ground surface as it cannot mix out and rise.
How to prevent smoke from laying low?
Check the weather forecast and plan your burns when inversions aren't likely to occur.
GET YOUR TREE CUTTING PERMIT ONLINE
Acquiring your Personal Use Forest Products Permit to harvest a Christmas tree is free and easy! Get your permit and learn where and what you're allowed to cut by clicking here.
END OF WILDFIRE SEASON
The wildfire season in Alberta has officially ended. This season, there were 108 wildfires in the Edson Forest Area and 85 of them were human-caused, representing 78 per cent. At the provincial level, 705 of the 1,254 wildfires that burned in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta – or 56 per cent – were human-caused.
On average, the total number of human-caused wildfires in Alberta has been declining in the past five years, highlighting the importance of continued prevention work. We thank all of those that did their part in preventing wildfires and ask that the public and industry continue to use safe burning practices in the coming months. We want to remind everyone that the conditions are still right for a wildfire and the risk could be present year-round.
While fire permits are not required for burning outside of wildfire season in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta, residents and industry planning a burn during winter should keep safe burning practices top of mind and follow Alberta Wildfire’s guidelines. These include carefully selecting the burn site, checking weather conditions and having the right tools, water and equipment on hand to keep it under control.
To assist the Edson Forest Area, please let us know if you plan any large scale winter burning by contacting the dispatch line directly (780) 723-8507 (leave a message if closed) with the following:
- name of landowner burning or company and representative name.
- phone number in case of emergency.
- legal land description or latitude/longitude.
For more information or if you require guidance, you can contact the local forest area or visit wildfire.alberta.ca for more information.
EDSON FOREST AREA WILDFIRE UPDATE
Since January 1, 2022, there have been 109 wildfires in the Edson Forest Area burning a total of 59.20 ha.
One wildfire occurred after wildfire season. Wildfires occasionally happen during winter conditions, be aware of your surroundings and ensure you always have sufficient firefighting equipment in case your fire escapes.
To view the wildfires on a map, check out the new wildfire dashboard. It provides up-to-date wildfire information at the click of a button. This interactive tool displays important statistics on the number of active wildfires in the province, sizes, locations, suspected causes and more.
PROVINCIAL WILDFIRE UPDATE
Since January 1, 2022 in the Forest Protection Area, there have been 1,273 wildfires burning a total of 130,899 ha.
ALBERTA WILDFIRE INFORMATION
- Subscribe to the Edson Forest Area wildfire update to receive an email when new information is posted.
- Download the Alberta Wildfire App for Apple and Android device.
- Join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
For more information, please contact:
