The recent rainfall has proved valuable for Alberta’s fight against wildfires, but with rain comes lightning.
Alberta Wildfire Information Unit Manager Christie Tucker explained in a Thursday update how May is typically a time of higher wildfire danger since this is when temperatures warm up and vegetation is still turning green.
“But we always say the greatest indicator of what kind of season we'll have is usually spring rain, and we're grateful for the rain that we've had over the past couple of weeks,” Tucker said.
“Rain brings humidity and can lower wildfire danger, but it can also bring lightning.”
In the past week, six new wildfires have been confirmed as lightning caused.
“Fortunately, our teams are trained, positioned and ready to respond to any new wildfires that start,” Tucker said.
“If there is a fire restriction or ban in place, and there has recently been some rain in your area, please continue to respect the precautions that we are taking to prevent wildfires.”
In areas that have had long periods of drought, larger trees and layers of organic buildup in the forest could take longer to show an improvement.
“There are many parts of the province which are now low in wildfire danger, but in the far northwest and southeast, wildfire danger is still high with pockets showing extreme,” Tucker said.
Tucker later added how wildfires tend to be 60 per cent human caused and 40 per cent lightning caused in Alberta, and the province was now shifting from a period when wildfires are almost exclusively human caused to one where there would be more lightning-caused wildfires.
Out of the 27 active wildfires in the Forest Protection Area of Alberta, two are being held, one is out of control and the rest are under control.
The out-of-control wildfire was detected west of Calgary early Thursday morning and is currently four hectares in size.
Alberta has had 386 wildfires with 28,000 hectares burned so far this year, which is significantly fewer compared to the over 540 wildfires with 1.3 million hectares burned at the same time last year.
“This is encouraging but it's also important to remember that we're still in the early stages of the wildfire season, and conditions and wildfire danger can change quickly,” said Todd Loewen, minister of Forestry and Parks.
“As lightning becomes more prevalent during the wildfire season, it's more important than ever that we do everything we can to prevent human-caused wildfires. These preventable wildfires place unnecessary strain on resources and personnel who are already responding to multiple fires throughout the province.”
