Muted wildfire activity is giving Alberta's government optimism after last year's grim start to the season, but experts say dry conditions could easily flip that narrative.
"We're going into this season substantially better shape than we were last year," Forestry Minister Todd Loewen told reporters in Edmonton Tuesday.
Last year's bone-dry conditions led Alberta to declare its wildfire season 10 days before its normal March 1 start date.
There are seven active wildfires burning in Alberta, but they are contained. That's compared with the more than 50 active wildfires that were burning last year in late February when the province triggered the early start to the season.
A dry winter and lingering multi-year drought conditions in the Rocky Mountains and northern Alberta mean it's too soon to predict how the rest of the year will play out.
To date, the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and northeastern Alberta have received 60 per cent of normal precipitation, said Melissa Story from Alberta Wildfire.
She said the province's crews are keeping a close eye on those areas.
"It will take quite a significant amount of rain to put things back to normal conditions," she said.
Spring is expected to be wetter and cooler than average, she said, but above-average temperatures are also forecast for the summer, Story said.
Despite a record number of wildfires last year, the total area burned ended up being only a fraction of 2023's record-breaking season.
But devastation hit Jasper, Alta. when a towering blaze last July wiped out a third of the town's structures. About 6,600 residents in Fort McMurray, Alta., evacuated in May as a fire crept into the city. It was ravaged by fire in 2016.
Emergency funding for Alberta's disaster response is getting a major boost this year.
Alberta’s budget, tabled last week, doubled its rainy day contingency fund for expenses tied to natural disasters and unknowns to $4 billion. The pool of money is used for emergencies including wildfire, flooding and agricultural disasters.
The fund was doubled to allow Alberta to respond to the ongoing trade war with the U.S.
Alberta is projected to spend a little more than the $2 million it budgeted last year for disaster and emergency relief. That is due to the province having to pay more in indemnity payments to agricultural producers, who were slammed by drought and poor growing conditions.
Meanwhile, the union representing Alberta wildland firefighters is sounding the alarm that not enough firefighters will be trained and ready for the first large blazes of the year.
“Minister Loewen is focused on hiring a majority of students for one or two years and letting them move on to other jurisdictions," said James Gault, vice-president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, in a statement.
"He sees no need to do anything to keep experienced firefighters despite the devastation we have seen to our communities, including Jasper and Fort McMurray.”
Story said many firefighters are students, so a large number of firefighters aren't hired or trained until after the school year ends in April.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2025.
Matthew Scace, The Canadian Press
