Canada Wildfire Archive & Past Fire Data
FireRadar keeps daily records, incident history, mapped perimeters and final annual statistics separate. Each source covers different dates and details, so they should not be combined into one historical total.
FireRadar daily activity archive
FireRadar records daily totals from the official incident data available at the time. These dates can be used for equivalent-date comparisons, province and territory rankings and active-fire timelines as the archive grows.
FireRadar incident history
The incident archive records individual official fires and selected perimeter versions from the point collection began. It must never be presented as a complete record of incidents from before FireRadar started observing them.
Canadian National Fire Database
Natural Resources Canada's Canadian National Fire Database provides historical fire points and perimeters contributed by participating agencies. Coverage, precision, attributes, and completeness vary by jurisdiction and year, so historical records require source and coverage caveats.
Official annual statistics
Final annual fire counts, cumulative area burned, evacuations, suppression costs and damages come from the organizations that publish those measures. Current active-fire records cannot be used to reconstruct them.
How to compare wildfire seasons responsibly
Compare January-to-July with January-to-July, not a partial current season with a completed previous year.
Active incidents, newly reported incidents, hotspots, perimeter area, and cumulative area burned are not interchangeable.
A national total can change when jurisdictions, years, definitions, or geometry completeness differ.
Understanding historical wildfire data
Does FireRadar contain every historical wildfire in Canada?
No. FireRadar's own archive begins when collection started and reflects the sources and records available at each observation. Broader historical coverage comes from official datasets such as the Canadian National Fire Database, which also has jurisdiction and year-specific limitations.
Is a historical fire point the same as a burned-area perimeter?
No. A point is a reference location associated with a fire record. A perimeter is a mapped polygon intended to represent burned or incident extent. They have different geometry, precision, availability, and appropriate uses.
Can reported active hectares be used as annual area burned?
No. Reported active hectares is the total of available size values for fires currently listed as active. Annual area burned is a different, cumulative seasonal statistic.