Canada Wildfire Archive & Past Fire Data
A useful wildfire archive must say what was collected, when collection began, which agency supplied each record, and whether a feature is a point, perimeter, daily snapshot, or final annual statistic. FireRadar keeps those categories separate instead of presenting one misleading historical total.
FireRadar daily activity snapshots
FireRadar captures daily summaries of the direct-official incident data it observed. These snapshots can support equivalent-date comparisons, province and territory rankings, current active-fire timelines, and transparent season-over-season analysis after enough history has accumulated.
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, damages, and agency outcomes belong to the organizations that publish those measures. FireRadar may cite them, but should not reconstruct them from a current-active-fire snapshot.
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 a snapshot of size values attached to currently active records. Annual area burned is a cumulative seasonal statistic produced through different reporting and reconciliation processes.