Wildfire danger soars as heat wave envelopes Western Canada

Extreme heat suffocating Western Canada with record-breaking temperatures is increasing the risk of wildfires, with nearly 20 new blazes ignited in Alberta and British Columbia just since Monday.

Both provinces, almost in their entirety, were under heat warnings on Tuesday from Environment Canada, which warned residents that the scorching temperatures could affect public health. Daytime highs were expected to hit 37 C in Alberta and climb into the low 40s in parts of British Columbia, with little respite overnight.

The hot and dry weather has created more fuel on the forest floors and, paired with wind, is spreading wildfire more rapidly, making them harder to bring under control. Thirteen fires have ignited since Monday in British Columbia while six have ignited in neighbouring Alberta, according to the respective wildfire agencies.

Until now, these provinces have experienced a relatively quiet wildfire season, despite fears that it would be a repeat of last year where monstrous fires forced widespread evacuations and scorched record swaths of land. But sizzling temperatures and lightning are now increasing the risk.

On Tuesday, Alberta Wildfire said wildfire danger is climbing to “very high and extreme levels due to the current heat event.”

Alysa Pederson, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said Alberta blew through 16 daytime high records on Monday, the most extreme being 33 C in Drumheller, and temperatures will continue to jump until the heat wave reaches its peak on Wednesday. She said a “slight reprieve” is expected Thursday and it is expected to continue into the weekend.

“I say slight because in Alberta we’re talking about it not being 35 C any more, we’re talking about 29 C, so a cool down but not really,” she said. As for when seasonal conditions will return: “That’s a big question. It’s up in the air right now.”

Meanwhile, B.C. has already been enduring the worst of this weather event, having broken or tied 25 historic heat records on Monday, setting a new preliminary record of 40.5 C. Heat was expected to break on Tuesday along the coast and on Vancouver Island but the Interior won’t moderate until Thursday.

Heat warnings also covered much of Saskatchewan and the southern portion of the Northwest Territories on Tuesday, while Atlantic Canada was being battered with a separate heat wave.

Melissa Story, an information officer with Alberta Wildfire, said more than half of the wildfires that have ignited since the start of July have been caused by lightning and have grown larger with the hot, windy weather. She said it will take a “significant amount of time” to contain the larger fires, including one near John D’Or Prairie that’s roughly 20,000 hectares in size.

She said the service is on “high alert” because lightning activity is expected to increase.

“We’re going to be looking for those new wildfires to ensure that they don’t grow into anything larger, but with lightning we can have fires that pop up a couple days later,” said Ms. Story. “So, we’re ensuring that we have the resources in places that we need them and we’re continuing to watch the growth and our response to wildfires that are currently on the landscape.”

There were 60 active wildfires in Alberta as of Tuesday afternoon, 13 of which were classified as out-of-control and all in the province’s north. The classification means they are expected to continue growing. Hundreds of firefighters have been assigned to the region, in addition to helicopters and heavy equipment.

In B.C., about a quarter of its nearly 100 wildfires are considered out-of-control.

Sarah Budd, an information officer with the provincial wildfire service, said they are expecting the risk to remain high through the weekend. She added that a “bit of a cold front” is expected to push in on Wednesday from the northwest and bring with it higher winds and the potential for dry lightning.

“With kind of that scattered activity up in the north, we’re expecting things to get a little bit worse before they get better,” she said, before adding that their provincial forecaster expects temperatures to return to seasonal around July 17 or 18.

“So, we’ve got a little ways to go yet.”

With a report from The Canadian Press