Wildfire season has, unfortunately, already begun in Canada, and it's been growing. Alberta is one of the provinces, among others including BC, that is currently battling several active wildfires and has been at risk of fire danger for several days. As of now, Alberta is currently facing a wildfire risk with 23 active fires taking place through the province. Alberta is currently battling 23 active wildfires, but one has been classified as "out of control", according to Alberta Wildfire. A wildfire in the Notikewin area of the province, which is relatively close to the BC border, has grown to a size of 2,271 hectares. "The wildfire in the Notikewin area (PWF 052) remains out of control but fire behavior was relatively quiet so firefighting efforts were very effective at reducing the fire activity and spread again today," says Alberta Wildfire on their website. "Heavy equipment, crews and helicopters have been working to control this fire since early this morning and due to the reduced intensity of the fire, their efforts have been effective at reducing the fire activity and spread." The Government of Canada has a Fire Weather Map on their website showing how high the risk of fire danger is for provinces and territories across Canada. Even though it's only May, regions in several provinces such as Alberta, BC and Ontario are already at risk of fire danger. Natural Resources Canada However, Alberta has it the worst – parts of the Southern region of the province are currently at "high" or "extreme" risk of fire danger today, as you can see from the map above from Natural Resources Canada. There is an out of control wildfire burning 22 km northwest of Notikewin in the Peace River Forest Area. This wildfire is approximately 779 hectares in size. Crews are working on containing this wildfire. Follow our updates at https://t.co/yk3iNRcvHR pic.twitter.com/EtijItWlOG— Alberta Wildfire (@AlbertaWildfire) May 12, 2019 Alberta Wildfire says that a fire is classified out of control when "the wildfire is burning and is expected to continue growing." All the other active wildfires in Alberta are currently being held or under control. According to them, 316 wildfires have already taken place in the province since March 1, 2019, meaning 3573.60 hectares of forest have been burned this year.
