Alberta’s wildfire season unofficially ends; here’s a breakdown

Alberta's wildfire season unofficially came to an end on Friday, even though 30 fires are still burning. How did this year compare to others?

Alberta’s wildfire season unofficially came to an end Oct. 31, though there are still 30 burning.

Since the season began on March 1, there have been 1,245 wildfires across the province.

Nearly 682,000 hectares were scorched—slightly less than 2024 (705,621) and much less than 2023 (2,212,399).

The Calgary Forest Area had 63 wildfires that burned around 35 hectares—the lowest number compared to the other zones in the province.

The Slave Lake Forest Area was the most damaged, with more than 379,000 hectares burned from 214 wildfires.

The moderate fire season around Calgary was thanks to normal temperatures from June to August, with a warmer May and September.

The rain also kept fires at bay with the third-wettest July on record in Calgary.

Smoke

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), there were 110 hours of smoke this year.

“This is not a lot compared to most of the recent years,” said Natalie Hasell, ECCC warning preparedness meteorologist.

“It’s a little bit more than 2019 and 2010, but it’s definitely more than any of the data we got before 2010.

“It’s also very little compared to the 450 hours we had in 2018, the 439 hours we had in 2021 and the 512 hours of smoke reported in 2023.”

Lots of the smoke Calgarians experienced was from out-of-province wildfires.