Grande Prairie region under fire ban heading into expected dry, windy weekend

An aerial image of wildfire EWF028, located in the Edson forest area, burning in early May 2024. (Source: Twitter / Alberta Wildfire)

A fire ban has been reinstated in the Grande Prairie Forest Area, where the fire risk is highest in Alberta as temperatures climb.

"They just didn't get the precipitation," Alberta Wildfire spokesperson Christie Tucker said in the weekly provincial wildfire update Thursday morning in Edmonton.

While rain – and snow in some areas – in the past week reduced the wildfire danger to low to moderate throughout much of the province, northwestern Alberta received less and had more built up dry vegetation.

"We know in the short term this weekend, we are expecting dry conditions, we're expecting warm conditions, we are looking at winds in a couple of areas that could provide additional danger, and so we are increasing our caution for this weekend, particularly in those areas that didn't get as much rain around the Peace and Grande Prairie region," Tucker explained.

She and Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen urged Albertans to respect wildfire bans and restrictions, such as that enacted near Grande Prairie.

"Wind can always have an extreme effect on wildfire activity; it can inflame activity and mean the difference between, let's say, a campfire that may just go out in a little bit of rain, and a campfire that can spread and turn into a wildfire," Tucker said.

On average, 67 per cent of wildfires in Alberta are caused by humans.

Loewen repeated the message that is being spread through public education campaigns: "Don't be that person."

According to the online wildfire dashboard, there were 40 active wildfires in the province's protected forest areas Thursday morning, 24 of which were carried over from 2023. All were classified as under control or being held.

So far this year, 9,197 hectares have burned. By the same time last year, some 260,000 hectares had been burned.