It’s the first day of November which means Alberta’s wildfire season is now over.
Over the last eight months, there were 80 fires in the Fort McMurray Forest Area that burned 50,588 hectares.
Last year, there were more blazes with 107, however, they only covered 3,295 hectares.
Area Information Officer Lynn Daina tells Mix News the majority of the damage was north of the community.
“The largest chunk of those fires were caused by lighting up and around the Fort Chipewyan area back in June, July.”
Around 36 per cent of this year’s fires were caused by humans.
Meanwhile, over the past three years, the wildfire seasons have been on the calmer side. 2016 was an anomaly due to the Horse River wildfire.
Daina says the weather has been very cooperative helping limit the number of blazes.
“Near the beginning of May, that’s when the forest is generally the driest and we did see a little bit more moisture this year and there weren’t any wildfires attributed to that portion of the year.”
Despite the weather getting colder, residents are being reminded to continue to be FireSmart. This includes preparing for next year’s wildfire season before winter officially hits.
