FireRadar Editorial & Data Standards
FireRadar is useful only if users can tell where information came from, what it means, when it was last verified, and who is responsible for correcting mistakes. These standards describe the rules FireRadar applies to data, editorial content, automation, and public accountability.
Who is responsible for FireRadar
FireRadar.ca is an independently operated Canadian wildfire information service. The FireRadar team is responsible for the site's aggregation logic, product behaviour, explanatory content, corrections, and the way source limitations are communicated. Provincial, territorial, federal, municipal, Indigenous, and emergency authorities remain responsible for their own official data and safety directions.
Direct official records stay separate from other context
A direct provincial or territorial wildfire incident is not interchangeable with a CWFIS national record, a NASA satellite hotspot, a smoke forecast, an AQHI observation, or a mapped perimeter. FireRadar keeps these datasets separate in counts, labels, map layers, APIs, and explanatory content so users are not given a misleading combined total.
Missing or failed data is not silently converted to zero
When a source cannot be validated, FireRadar should show an unavailable, stale, or otherwise qualified state rather than implying that a failed request means there are zero fires. Last-known-good data may be retained when appropriate, but the freshness state must remain visible to the application and must not be presented as a newly confirmed source update.
Timestamps keep their original meaning
Reported, detected, incident-updated, source-updated, FireRadar-ingested, and page-generated timestamps are different fields. FireRadar does not substitute its own refresh time for a missing incident update or label a generic source timestamp as though an agency changed a specific fire record at that moment.
Editorial pages must be useful without the map
Guides and methodology pages should answer a distinct user question with visible server-rendered content, identify relevant official or trusted sources, state important limitations, and link back to the appropriate current FireRadar tool. FireRadar avoids mass-generating thin location or keyword pages solely to create search inventory.
Safety and specialist boundaries are explicit
FireRadar does not issue evacuation orders, road closures, emergency alerts, medical advice, legal advice, insurance decisions, or predictive fire-spread instructions. Content that touches those areas should direct readers to the responsible authority or qualified professional and should not present FireRadar as the final decision-maker.
Automation and software tools do not replace source verification
Automation and software-assisted tools may support data processing, testing, monitoring, research, drafting, translation, or maintenance. Published factual claims and product behaviour remain subject to FireRadar's source rules, validation checks, review standards, and correction process. Tool output is not treated as an authority simply because it was generated automatically.
Support does not change wildfire information
Voluntary support, future commercial relationships, or other funding must not buy earlier emergency information, preferential incident treatment, altered wildfire classifications, or more favourable source presentation. Data and safety decisions remain governed by source quality and product rules.
Report a data or editorial problem
Send corrections to hello@fireradar.ca. For wildfire-data discrepancies, include the FireRadar URL or fire identifier, province or territory, the official source URL, the field that appears wrong, and the time you observed the difference. For editorial corrections, include the page URL and the statement that should be reviewed.
Corrections should change the inaccurate information at its source in FireRadar's data or content pipeline where possible, rather than hiding a recurring problem with a one-off display patch. Material methodology or coverage changes should also be reflected in the relevant source or archive documentation.
Related methodology
Media and research use
The media resource provides current citation-ready summaries, attribution guidance, direct-source context, and public download links without presenting FireRadar as an emergency authority.
FireRadar for Media & Researchers →Thank you for using and supporting FireRadar.
— The FireRadar team