Fire and water, ice and snow. The Wildland Canada Conference 2026 photo contest produced a spectacular range of still life snapshots of wildfire on the land.
The 600 delegates in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan for the conference last week voted for a first and second place in three divisions – Cultural Fire, Wildland Fire and Prescribed Fire.
The Carriere family from northern Saskatchewan took out both first and second prize for their photos in their We Are Fire program.
Michela’s photo of a cultural burn on the Saskatchewan River Delta was taken on her DJI Air3s drone. Her caption read: “Beautiful image captured as the sun was setting, the conditions were perfect for the burn. Part of the We Are Fire movement and Muskrats to Moose collective.”
Renee Carriere’s photo was titled Where Fire Meets Water. “An Elder Fire Land Guardian moves through the frozen channels of the Saskatchewan River Delta as fire travels through the golden marsh grasses. From above, the contrast between flame, ice, and the vast northern landscape reveals both the power of fire and the beauty of this living ecosystem. Cultural burning is more than the act of lighting a fire — it is a relationship with the land, guided by knowledge, observation, and respect. In this moment, fire and water meet in a landscape shaped by generations of connection to the land.”
Wildland Fire
Wildland Canada Conference 2026 photo contest winner. Photo by Sarah Pratchler.Wildland Canada Conference 2026 photo contest winner. Photo by Natalie Krizan.
Sarah Pratchler from Gel Systems Canada won the category with the capture of the spectacular colours during the application of her organisation’s FG-2 Ready-To-Use Gel on a house at Molanosa (Montreal Lake Cree Nation) during the 2025 DITCH fire.
Runner up Natalie Krizan from the University of Lethbridge caught the regrowth after the severe Jasper wildfires of 2024. “Regrowth begins again a mere few months after, as bright purple fireweed contrasts against the charred landscape.”
Natalie Krizan, University of Lethbridge, won this category with an intriguing image taken during a prescribed fire within the Whitehorse South fuel break. “The heat of the burn blurs the figure of a firefighter as he uses a drip torch to ignite the next row of protective flame.”
Sheldon Brewer’s photo was a riot of red as a firefighter worked on a firebreak around a community.
Canadian military police are continuing to investigate a wildfire that killed four and injured 39 on the Canadian Forces Base in Wainwright, while a Board of Inquiry will later conduct a separate independent look into the incident.
Canadian Forces Provost Marshal Brig. Gen. Vanessa Hanrahan on Thursday confirmed the fire began inside an Automatic Grenade Launcher range and started during routine military training activities. The fire was inside a “permanent danger area,” which Hanrahan said restricted firefighters’ ability to suppress the fire and forced them to only observe it.
The fire’s “rapid” spread, characterized by Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland in officials’ first press conference on the tragedy, was caused by a “change in wind direction and velocity,” and wasn’t worsened by the base’s methane gas infrastructure, according to Hanrahan.
“Investigations of this nature are complex and require careful assessment of information and evidence from multiple sources,” Hanrahan said. “While there is significant interest in understanding what occurred, it is important that the investigative process be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it leads.”
Hanrahan said the Military Police were conducting an independent investigation to establish the facts and determine whether any criminal or service offence occurred. Comprehensive terms of reference are being developed for the Board of Inquiry to be formally convened.
The Canadian government previously confirmed the identities of those killed as:
Sergeant Morgan Wong, from the Loyal Edmonton Regiment based at Edmonton, Alberta, serving with 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
Private Shaun Farrell, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta
Private Aidan Goulding, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta
Private Hayden Lykkemark, from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, based at Edmonton, Alberta
Officials previously said 19 of the military members who were injured were in critical condition, eight were stable, and 12 were receiving treatment for less serious injuries. Hanrahan did not share an update on the health status of those injured.
Wildfire detection company SenseNet, Canada’s largest wildfire detection operator, recently announced the acquisition of N5 Sensors‘ wildfire-related assets, a semiconductor producer in the United States, despite the company’s recent failure in a federal audit and the two nations being in the middle of a trade war.
N5 builds environmental and chemical sensor platforms for air quality analysis, hazardous chemical monitoring and early wildfire detection, according to the company’s website. SenseNet acquired the company’s fire-sensing technology just months after the sensors failed an audit conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
SenseNet CEO and Founder Hamed Noori told Wildfire Today that he and his company were aware of the failed audit before the acquisition, deciding that the audit’s report did not accurately reflect N5’s technology nor how it would operate under SenseNet. He added that he believes N5’s integration into SenseNet would only add to his company’s ability to monitor wildfires.
SenseNet also monitors more than 400 million acres of wildlands across 10 other countries. The company focuses on smoldering-phase gas sensors, long-range AI cameras, and satellite intelligence, among other technologies.
The acquisition also comes amid an escalating trade war between the U.S. and Canada, triggered after President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on numerous goods from Canada entering the U.S. on Aug. 19, and explicitly includes electronics and telecom equipment like those SenseNet and N5 rely on, along with vehicle parts, lumber, and agricultural goods. Canada exported more than $4 billion worth of electronics equipment to the U.S. in 2025 that would now be subject to the tariffs, largely made up of electrical boards and controllers.
Canada’s responded by instituting 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of American goods on August 22then issued more retaliatory tariffs on September 8, including taxes ranging between 15 and 50% on a list of more than 700 U.S. goods, including semiconductor-related parts and other technology goods.
Noori told Wildfire Today he expects the ongoing trade war to minimally impact his business, if at all.
“For one, the sensors are relatively cheap and the majority of our value comes from our platform and AI that detects the wildfires,” Noori said. “Secondly, wildfire prevention is an issue that transcends politics as both countries collaborate deeply and share resources.”
Communities within the United States’ Great Lakes region will experience their highest air pollution levels throughout Sunday due to wildfire smoke from Canada, but National Weather Service forecasts show significant relief isn’t coming anytime soon.
Smoke has lowered air quality across the Midwest and Northeast to unhealthy and even hazardous levels over the past week as numerous out-of-control fires burn in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The total area burned surpassed historical highs on Thursday as peak fire season continues into late August.
Forecast models show near-surface smoke remaining throughout the Midwest and Northeast through at least Wednesday. Weather patterns are also expected to push smoke from Canada’s fires down southward into new Midwest and Western states in the coming days, including Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Wyoming.
The National Weather Service issues air quality alerts when levels of fine particulate matter, which are small particles that can penetrate deep inside lungs and are produced in large quantities by wildfire smoke, are elevated enough to pose health risks. Alerts are currently in effect for Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, but more alerts are expected to be issued in other states as the smoke pushes south.
“The heaviest smoke is currently in Wisconsin, where significant portions are at VERY UNHEALTHY levels, while most other areas are seeing UNHEALTHY to USG conditions,” the U.S. Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program said in an alert on Sunday. “These conditions are expected to mostly persist today with the exception of northern Ohio and southeast Michigan, where Detroit and Cleveland should see conditions improve to MODERATE levels today.”
What began as a far-below-average wildfire season for Canada has since exploded past historical norms, causing national crews to mobilize and United States officials to issue warnings.
Area burned in Canada was less than half of the 10-year average on July 7, but just 10 days and over 300 wildfires later, area burned now sits at 2.78 million hectares (6.87 million acres), according to the National Wildland Fire Summary. The growing total is already 300,000 hectares (741,000 acres) above the 10-year average. The number of fires burning throughout Canada, at 3,656 as of July 17, is already above the 25-year average of 3,652 fires.
The fires have caused widespread hazardous air quality in the U.S. Midwest and Northeast. U.S. President Donald Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency both issued warnings on Friday, urging Canadian officials to “extinguish these fires as fast as possible.”
Credit: BC Wildfire Service
“We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly sainting their forests, and Brush therein, and the United States is being unnecessarily invaded by filthy, polluted, and unhealthy air, the quality of which is dangerous, and totally unacceptable,” Trump said in a social media post. “I will call the Prime Minister during the day to find out what they are going to do about it.”
Fire danger is extreme in Ontario, with widespread wildfires causing evacuations in numerous communities across the province, according to Canada’s most recent fire summary. Fires are forecast to continue growing over the coming days due to high temperatures, dry weather and lightning.
The Northwest Territories and parts of Nunavut are also nearing extreme fire danger, while northern Manitoba, north-central Saskatchewan, and interior British Columbia’s fire danger are also expected to increase.
Wildfire smoke impacts are also expected to continue in both eastern Canada and the U.S. over the coming days, specifically due to heavy smoke emitted by fires in western Ontario. Canadian officials said diplomatic engagement is being coordinated to discuss smoke impacts on U.S. states.
Canada’s long-term pledge to build up its aerial firefighting resources has begun with the lease of 12 aircraft that will be shared nationally for the 2026 wildfire season.
As reported in March, Canada has put aside $316.7 million over the next five years for the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) to manage a national fleet of aerial firefighting resources for all provinces and territories based on current and urgent needs.
The fleet will increase Canadian surge capacity during periods of elevated wildfire activity, support rapid deployment of resources, address provincial and territorial gaps, and enhance Canada’s wildfire resilience.
This summer, Canadian wildfire agencies will have access to the following resources: • Four Dash 8-400 AT (Land-based Airtankers), one TBM960AA (Birddog), and two Forward Attack Tanker Bases through Conair Group Inc. • Three Airbus AS332 L & L1 (Heavy rotary wing helicopters) through Coldstream Helicopters Ltd. • Two Sikorsky S-92A (Heavy rotary wing helicopters) through VIH Helicopters.
These aerial assets will be strategically propositioned in Canada based on provincial and territorial need, fire activity, and preparedness level. However, aircraft can be relocated at any time to address the current situation. The operational contract period runs May 1 to September 27, 2026. All three suppliers are based in British Columbia.
CIFFC will coordinate the aerial assets on behalf of member agencies, said Kelsey Winter, Executive Director of CIFFC. “A pan-Canadian response that assists our provincial and territorial partners in reducing the increasing impact of wildfires is paramount. Together, we are building a more wildfire resilient future for our country.”
Conair proudly claims it manufactures, owns and operates the world’s largest fleet of fixed-wing aerial firefighting aircraft.
“For the first time, Canada has its own national fleet to bolster provincial and territorial firefighting capacity.” said Chris Niemann, President and CEO of Conair. “We are proud to be part of this moment in history, committed to supporting firefighters across the country using our aircraft, made in Canada and operated in Canada, supported by hundreds of Conair aerospace professionals.”
Conair promotes the Dash 8-400 as a proven platform, with more than two dozen operating worldwide. It delivers large retardant drops to slow fire progression, working alongside water scoopers to cool flames. It also operates from shorter runways closer to fire prone areas and can reload in seven minutes. Conair makes four new Dash 8-400 airtankers every year with a capacity to increase production if called upon.
This investment, from the Budget 2025 commitment to bolster provincial and territorial aerial firefighting capacity, will go to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) to lease, manage and deploy federally funded aircraft for wildfires.
Following Canada’s second worst wildfire season in history in 2025, two years after the record breaking 2023 season, and the prospect of increasingly challenging wildfires in the years to come, Canada has stepped up its national approach to aerial firefighting.
CIFFC coordinates wildfire resources among federal, provincial, and territorial governments. Over the next five years, CIFFC will use this funding to lease and manage the deployment of federally funded wildfire fighting aircraft to provinces and territories to boost their capacity during periods of intense wildfire activity.
CIFFC has launched a request for proposals (RFP) to ensure that aircraft are available for use in the 2026 wildfire season. The deadline for applications is March 23, 2026. Wildfire Today will report on which aircraft are selected to expand Canada’s aerial fleet.
The Office of Eleanor Olszewski, Minister or Emergency Management and Community Resilience provided some clarity on the announcement through press secretary, Soraya Lemur.
“This is the first time the federal government has invested directly in aerial firefighting aircraft.”
Soraya lemur, press sec for Minister for Emergency manaGEMENT
“The $316.7 million announced on February 20, 2026, is new federal funding from Budget 2025 to strengthen Canada’s aerial firefighting capacity. This investment provides Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) with funding over five years (2026-2031) to lease and deploy new aerial firefighting aircraft in support of provinces and territories during periods of high wildfire activity.”
“This is the first time the federal government has invested directly in aerial firefighting aircraft. This new funding is not linked to, or a reallocation of, any previous funding commitments and represents a significant enhancement to Canada’s national wildfire response capacity.
“In practical terms, this funding enables CIFFC to lease aircraft, personnel, and maintenance support to ensure surge capacity is available when provinces and territories request assistance.”
Canada is lifting its commitment to prescribed fire with the establishment of a new national training program funded by a large injection of philanthropic money.
The new $CAD 8 million Canadian Prescribed Fire Training Program (CPFTP), is co-developed by the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus and the Weston Family Foundation.
Launched this week, it aims to address what it has identified as a gap in Canada’s ability to use and scale prescribed fire as a land management and ecological restoration tool and has taken inspiration from similar programs underway or in development in the US and Australia.
The program founders are working off the belief that prescribed burning is vastly underused in Canada and is widely constrained by the limited availability of training, mentorship, and opportunities to gain operational experience in the field.
May 5, 2018 – Prescribed fire practitioners working on a prescribed fire at Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site to maintain and restore grassland habitat. Photo: Jane Park
The program will educate and train practitioners across Canada through regional hubs, tailored to Canada’s diverse and varied landscapes.
“Canada’s ability to expand the use of prescribed fire has been constrained by a lack of coordinated training and clear pathways to operational experience,” said Dr. Mathieu Bourbonnais, Assistant Professor, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science at UBC Okanagan and Director of the Canadian Prescribed Fire Training Program.
“This program provides the leadership and structure needed to establish national standards, deliver regionally grounded training, and build the capacity required to apply prescribed fire safely, responsibly, and at scale.”
Wildfire Today spoke with Dr Bourbannais about how the program will work.
There are established prescribed burning training programs in the US, and others in development in places like Australia. Is this Canadian program modelled on any of these?
We conducted a comprehensive review of prescribed fire training programs in other countries while developing the framework for the Canadian Prescribed Fire Training Program / Programme canadien de formation en brûlage dirigé. Programs in the United States and Australia offer valuable examples, and as our program evolves, we will continue to learn from them and explore opportunities for collaboration on training and curriculum.
At the same time, it’s essential that a Canadian program reflects the needs, priorities, and fire management realities of our own regions and partners. While there are important lessons to draw from international models, our focus is tailoring the program to Canada’s diverse landscapes, governance structures, and operational requirements.
How will you include cultural fire in the program?
A central part of our mission is to support Indigenous-led fire stewardship in Canada. We recognize that prescribed fire and cultural fire are not the same thing, and that many of Canada’s fire-adapted ecosystems have been shaped by Indigenous cultural fire practices. That history and knowledge will be reflected across the program, both in national-level content and regionally delivered courses which will be co-developed with Indigenous partners.
The program is being shaped with guidance from national Indigenous organizations, including the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, the Thunderbird Collective, and the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council, who serve as key members of our advisory committee. Our goal is to ensure the program is accessible to Indigenous-led fire organizations and communities, and to support their leadership in revitalizing cultural fire. We will also work closely with regional Indigenous partners and Nations so that training reflects Indigenous knowledge, priorities, and perspectives, and to help create space for Indigenous-led cultural fire work to thrive.
Will the training be specific to Canada’s geographical regions or is it more general?
Our program will use a hybrid approach for delivering training. The theoretical parts of prescribed fire, like fire weather, fire behaviour, burn planning, communications, and fire ecology, will be offered online in English and French to reflect Canada’s two official languages. This will allow learners across the country access to core knowledge in a flexible way.
Because Canada is so big and ecologically diverse, the hands-on components will be regionally grounded. Field-based training, including operational prescribed fire, ignitions, holding, and fire effects monitoring, will be delivered through five regional hubs: West, North, Central, East, and Atlantic. Each hub will have a regional lead and a training and outreach facilitator who work closely with partners to make sure the training reflects local conditions and needs.
At the same time, we know that the absence of national standards and qualifications for prescribed fire roles has been a barrier to scaling the use of prescribed burning in Canada. Over the next few years, we’ll be working with partners to address those gaps, while still recognizing the importance of regionally-based training.
How will you include the best and latest prescribed burning science into the training?
The University of British Columbia Okanagan is a national leader in wildfire and prescribed fire science. Hosting the program within a university allows us to update course content rapidly as new research, tools, and lessons emerge. Our five regional hubs will play an important role in keeping training grounded in real-world conditions. For example, they will support ongoing fire-effects monitoring and fire ecology research with local partners, so we can integrate region-specific outcomes and ecosystem responses into the curriculum.
Who can do the training?
The Program will be offered through continuing education and professional development at UBC Okanagan, which makes it broadly accessible to a wide range of participants. While the training will support the needs of wildfire agencies, it is also designed for diverse groups, including Indigenous Nations and communities, fire practitioners, land managers, fire departments, NGOs, industry, and landowners.
Because people come to prescribed fire with very different backgrounds, the Program will offer training pathways for different roles in prescribed fire. These will range from introductory and awareness-level opportunities for those who are new to fire, all the way up to the competencies required to lead complex prescribed fire operations.
Who pays for an individual’s training?
Over the next two years, we’ll be working with partners across the country and the Weston Family Foundation to develop a long-term sustainability plan for the Program, which will include establishing a fee structure for the different courses. As the program grows, we expect that funding will come from several different sources, including organizations sponsoring their staff, individual registrations, and continued partnership support.
When does the training begin?
We already have training pilots scheduled to begin in the fall of 2026. Over the following two years, our goal is to run pilots in all five regions, and we expect to be offering the full suite of training by 2028.
For more information about the program and to sign up for a newsletter, visit the website rxfire.ca / rxfeu.ca
April 11, 2023 – Driptorch, a tool used by fire practitioners to apply fire, on a prescribed fire in the Kootenays (BC). Photo Mathieu Bourbonnais
A group of 74 Canadian Arduous Firefighters and Incident Management Teams from Alberta Wildfire and British Columbia Wildfire Service have just arrived in Victoria, Australia, to help fight ongoing bushfires across the state.
These crews are a part of 1300 interstate and international firefighters and IMT personnel brought in to support local crews in a week that has seen record breaking heat across southern Australia.
Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said there were multiple out-of-control bushfires burning across Victoria, including the Carlisle River fire in the Otways and the Walwa and Dargo fires in the state’s north-east.
Although the extreme temperatures had slightly eased in southern districts – along with some of the fire activity – the northern parts of the state and into New South Wales were still facing persistent heat. So far this bushfire season, more than 400,000 hectares of land has been affected.
The number of people on deployment has fluctuated over the days, but as of earlier this week 342 interstate support personnel were in Victoria in addition to the internationals:
38 from Western Australia
31 from Australian Capital Territory
127 from New South Wales
34 from Northern Territory
12 from Queensland
100 from South Australia
Wiebusch said the Canadians would stay for a month “bringing a very welcomed boost in capacity to allow us to rotate and rest local teams.”
“The Canadians will help manage and fight remote fires in the Wonnangatta and the Wabba Wilderness in regional Victoria. Amazing commitment to travel significant distance and be away from family and friends for this long period…We can’t thank you enough.”
The Canadian teams will join New Zealand crews already on these fires.
Canadian deployment to fires in Victoria, Australia, January 2026.
Alberta Wildfire has deployed 37 personnel, including 20 firefighters and 17 wildfire management specialists, to Australia for 30 days to support wildfire response efforts.
Alberta, British Columbia and Australia share a long-standing partnership in fighting wildfires, with 1410 firefighters and support staff deployed to Canada in the last three years.
This map shows the incredible, and in some cases unprecedented, temperatures in southern Australia on Tuesday 27 January.
Extreme temperatures across southern Australia, January 2026. Source: Bureau of Meteorology.
Parts of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia all exceeded 48°C /118F, which is rare for these states, even during severe summer heatwaves.
Significant, long standing temperature records were broken on Tuesday, highlighting just how far from ‘typical summer weather’ these temperatures were:
• Walpeup and Hopetoun both reached 48.9ºC yesterday, which was Victoria’s hottest temperature since observations began.
• New South Wales’s second hottest temperature on record was tied when Pooncarie reported 49.7ºC/121.7F.
• South Australia’s fourth hottest temperature on record was reached in Renmark, as it reached 49.6ºC/121.3F.
Thermal data acquired by the Copernicus EU Sentinel‑3 Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer highlight the severity of the ongoing heatwave across Australia, with extreme land surface temperatures (LST) detected over large regions.
In Willcania and Broken Hill, recorded land surface temperatures ranged between 58 and 60 °C (136-140F), whereas Adelaide appeared cooler, with temperatures of 45–48 °C, likely due to its proximity to the sea.
Australia’s record heatwave as seen from space, January 2026. Source: European Space Agency.
Credits: Copernicus Sentinel data (2025), processed by ESA
Two 2023 fireground incidents – one involving an entrapped crew in a high-risk planned ignition, the other a firefighter death in a vehicle – has triggered the British Columbia worker safety agency to levy a record-high fine against the province’s government, the second such fine in the same number of years.
WorkSafeBC began considering the most recent fine in May of this year after a planned ignition in 2023 trapped a team of five Brazilian firefighters and forced other crews involved in the burn to navigate off-road when their escape route was compromised, according to the agency’s penalty summary. The agency blamed a lack of planning, training, and communication for the incident, along with supervisors not following the employer’s safety program and operations manual.
A separate 2023 incident was also added to the penalty, where a firefighter died and another was injured when their UTV went over a steep embankment. The agency said neither worker was wearing a helmet, the passenger wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and the passenger-side retention netting had previously been damaged. Inadequate supervision, a lack of safe work procedures, and a lack of pre-use inspection of the UTV were all contributing factors.
The combined fine was imposed is $759,368.84 (CAD). The fine is the largest that the agency has ever levied, second only to the $710,488.79 penalty it also issued against the BC government in 2023 for unsafe wildfire mitigation work. That fine was ultimately cancelled in 2024.
“Administrative penalties are fines imposed on employers for health and safety violations of the Workers Compensation Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, and/or orders of WorkSafeBC, and for failure to take sufficient precautions to prevent workplace injuries or illnesses,” the agency said on its website. “Penalties are published as a deterrent and to highlight the importance of making workplaces safe.”
The record-high fine caused the B.C. General Employees’ Union, which represents over 2,000 wildland firefighters, to demand the province’s Wildfire Service address its alleged inadequate supervision, training and risk assessments to protect its wildland firefighters. The Union has previously pressed the Service to address high turnover and inconsistent safety practices.
“This decision confirms what our members have been saying for years, that systemic safety issues within the BC Wildfire Service are putting workers at risk,” said Union President Paul Finch in a press release on Friday. “We welcome WorkSafeBC’s direction to bring the employer into compliance with basic health and safety obligations. Every worker deserves to come home safe at the end of the day.”
The 2023 wildfire season was the most destructive in B.C.’s history, with over 7 million acres burned, hundreds of homes destroyed, and tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate. The fires stressed local economies, infrastructure, and local ecology, but also had an unquantifiable impact on the province’s firefighting force, partly caused by the deaths of six wildland firefighters.
