Another record-breaking wildfire season comes to an end in Alberta [Video]

Alberta’s wildfire season has officially ended and 2024 was yet another record-breaking year.

Alberta Wildfire was preparing for elevated fire activity from day one of the season.

“This year we expected a busy season on the heels of 2023 and it was busy, it was challenging,” said Alberta Wildfire information officer Josée St-Onge.

The province’s wildfire season wrapped up on Oct. 31, but it had an early start — initial fire bans were issued on Feb. 20.

“There was a lot of fire on the landscape in the spring already. May was pretty busy which is typical for Alberta. Then we saw some rain which slowed things down for the end of May and June,” said St-Onge.

From then on things picked up.

The wildfire agency responded to 1,210 wildfires this year, exceeding last year’s record-breaking total of 1,080.

Even though we had more fires, fewer hectares burned this year.

In 2024, 705,000 hectares burned, …