Guiding Through the Wildfire: Crucial Resources to Keep You Informed

Learn about the latest wildfire smoke forecast layer and other essential resources in the Living Atlas. 

In 2023, Canada bore witness to an unprecedented wildfire season and forecasts suggest it may continue well into late fall and possibly winter. As reported by CBC Radio, this year marked Canada's worst wildfire season on record, a stark testament to the growing challenges posed by climate change.

Over 15 million hectares of land went up in flames this year, surpassing the previous record of 7.6 million hectares in 1989. These staggering numbers serve as a reminder of the urgent need for robust wildfire resources necessary for early detection, evacuation planning and raising community awareness – all of which can be achieved through the Living Atlas.

The Living Atlas is an extensive repository of geospatial data and maps provided by authoritative contributors. It is especially a powerful resource for analyzing natural disasters using both real-time and historical data to study the present and better prepare for the future.

Here are some essential wildfire datasets in the Living Atlas to help you keep track of the wildfire situation in Canada:

1. Wildfire Smoke Forecast in Canada

Update Frequency: Every 6 hours

This newly added animated service displays forecasted wildfire smoke in units of micrograms per meter cubed (µg/m3) for the next two days across Canada sourced from BlueSky Canada's FireSmoke app.

2. Active Wildfires in Canada

Update Frequency: Every 3 hours

This dataset displays active wildfire locations collected from fire management agencies (provinces, territories and Parks Canada) coordinated by the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

3. Active Wildfire Perimeters in Canada

Update Frequency: Every 3 hours

This dataset displays active wildfire perimeters derived from hotspots identified in satellite imagery provided by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

4. Wildfires and Fire Danger in Canada - Webmap

Update Frequency: Daily

This web map compiles all the active wildfire resources for Canada in the Living Atlas including the web map service provided by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS)’s datamart which includes a fire danger map, forecasted surface fuel consumption, head fire intensity and more.

5. Historical Wildfire Perimeters in Canada

Update Frequency: Once a year in July

This dataset was sourced from the National Burned Area Composite (NBAC). It is a national, geospatial burned area product compiled annually since 1986 for annual estimates of carbon emissions. It is coordinated by the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).

6. Historical Wildfire Perimeters in Canada - Time Lapse App

Update Frequency: Once a year in July

This app uses the historical wildfire perimeters dataset to display a dynamic time lapse of the burned areas caused by wildfires since 1986.

In addition to the wildfire datasets, here are a few other relevant real time weather datasets from Environment Canada: weather alerts, air quality (updated every 15 minutes) and weather conditions, wind speed and direction and humidity (updated every hour).

Notice any important Canadian datasets or apps missing from the Living Atlas? Fill out this short survey to put in a request.

If you or your organization have any inquiries or would like to nominate Canadian content (maps, apps or data) to the Living Atlas, please contact me at fhoque@esri.ca