Alberta wildfire season off to slow start; province invests $900K in monitoring system

Alberta’s wildfire season so far in 2025 is nothing like the previous two years.

The province’s forestry minister says snow and rain have helped firefighters tremendously – after two fire seasons where Mother Nature was not particularly sympathetic.

By way of comparison, Minister Todd Loewen says there were six fires burning in Alberta on Jan. 1 of this year. Last year, there were 64.

“Those holdover fires from the previous season, being able to get on them a little more effectively in the fall, but also having some weather to help out, made a big difference,” Minister Loewen said.

With Alberta heading into the heart of wildfire season, the provincial government announced $900,000 is being allocated to upgrade and expand its network of 150 weather stations.

It’s something Alberta’s wildfire officials say will help them better predict fire conditions.

“It includes technology that is going to give us greater accuracy in determining some of these elements that determine the kind of fire season we’re going to have, and what activity of fire is doing,” said Christie Tucker, the Alberta Wildfire information unit manager.

These stations monitor environmental conditions, like temperature, humidity, wind and moisture, in real time to help fire crews know where they will be needed when the weather gets hot and dry.

The monitors will also be able to monitor snowpack levels, which are strong indicators of Alberta’s fire risk early in the season.

‘Cautiously optimistic’

The wildfire season officially began March 1, but the peak danger doesn’t start until around May.

Loewen said they are preparing as best they can for the inevitable.

“(We’re) cautiously optimistic, but we know we do have challenges coming forward,” he said Thursday.

Alberta’s private firefighters are also preparing for the fire season ahead.

“We’re starting to get into that process, doing the inventories, going through all the equipment, all the trucks – just making sure everything is ready to go again,” said Kris Liivam with Arctic Fire Safety Services.

CityNews spoke to Liivam in Hinton last summer when he was working as a private contractor hired to protect property during the Jasper wildfire.

Liivam says even if this summer ends up being slow in terms of wildfires, he’ll still be working with businesses and property owners on how to lower the risk of fire on the long term.

“As we’ve seen with all these disasters, there’s just not going to be enough public safety resources available to protect everyone,” he said. “So just making these companies more in tune with their needs: if they need to have their own fire pumps, if they need to have their own water supply, planning their own logistics.”

There are seven active wildfires in Alberta.

–With files from The Canadian Press