The wildfire season will begin early in Alberta this year. Starting on March 1st the province requires any planned fires in the Alberta Forest Protection Area to have a permit which does not include camp fires.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Oneil Carlier says they are beginning the fire protection season early to make sure there is more monitoring of burning activities. The wildfire season comes early after the 2011 Slave Lake wildfires and the Flat Top Wildfire Complex Review recommendations said to do so.
Last year’s wildfire season had over 1700 fires burn over 492, 000 hectares in the province.