Alberta is marking the official end of the 2026 wildfire season after Alberta Wildfire responded to 785 fires that burned just under 18,000 hectares since Jan. 1, the provincial government said.
The five-year average is 996 wildfires burning more than 660,000 hectares. The government credited its preparedness program and firefighting crews, along with significant rainfall across much of the province, for a less active season than in previous years.
For a brief period in mid-August, Alberta's wildfire map showed no active wildfires. The government said it was the first time in 40 years that no wildfires were recorded at that time of year.
"This was a different kind of season than we've seen in recent years and we're grateful for that. But wildfire doesn't keep a calendar. While the rainfall helped, we are very proud of the work our wildfire teams have done on initial attack, working to get fires under control before they become a threat to communities."
The government said Alberta kept enough resources to respond at home while also helping other jurisdictions. It said it shared the expertise of more than 1,000 personnel with wildfire agencies in Australia, Ontario, Quebec, the Northwest Territories, British Columbia and the United States.
Alberta Wildfire added two hoist-equipped helicopters, a five-person crew and expanded training capacity in Hinton as part of a new hoist program for responding to remote wildfires. The province also introduced the Mutual Aid Incentive Pilot, which offers municipalities up to $125,000 toward eligible costs to encourage them to request help sooner.
The province said wildfire work continues year-round under the Alberta Wildfire Mitigation Strategy, launched six months ago. Since April 1, 2025, almost 1,000 hectares of strategic fuel breaks have been built, and more than 6,200 hectares have been treated near 24 at-risk communities through the Community Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program.
The Forest Resource Improvement Association of Alberta has committed more than $7 million for 61 community FireSmart projects. Since April 1, its Community Fireguard Program has committed more than $10 million to five new projects in Castle Mountain, the Kananaskis Improvement District Lower Cottage Subdivision, Canmore's south boundary, Bigstone Cree Nation and Driftpile Cree Nation. Work is expected to begin this fall and continue into 2027.
The government also said more than 1,600 Advanced FireSmart Home Assessments have been completed since spring, and communities are using a new FireSmart Alberta Community Scorecard to track preparedness. Alberta's legislated wildfire season runs from March 1 to Oct. 31.
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