Castlegar Wildfire Smoke Map
Track hourly wildfire-smoke forecast guidance around Castlegar, the West Kootenay, and the Columbia and Kootenay river valleys with FireRadar's ECCC FireWork map.
How to read smoke around Castlegar
Castlegar sits where the Columbia and Kootenay river valleys meet, surrounded by steep forested terrain in the West Kootenay. Smoke can arrive from nearby Kootenay fires, the Boundary and Okanagan, Washington or Idaho, and longer-range western incidents. Valley channelling, slope winds, inversions, and elevation changes can concentrate or clear smoke differently from the broad regional plume, so FireWork should be treated as forecast guidance and compared with current observations.
Forecast, not a measurement
FireWork estimates near-surface PM2.5 attributable to wildfire smoke. It can differ from actual conditions around Castlegar because emissions, wind, terrain, mixing, precipitation, and model timing change. Use current AQHI observations and local health advisories when conditions matter to health.
A focused starting view, not a clipped dataset
This page starts the national FireRadar layer around Castlegar. The underlying FireWork smoke field is not clipped to municipal boundaries, so nearby conditions remain visible as you pan or zoom. FireRadar does not infer a uniform value inside a city boundary.
Health and safety limitation
FireRadar is an informational environmental map. Follow Environment and Climate Change Canada, provincial health agencies, local public-health guidance, and emergency authorities for health or safety decisions. This page does not diagnose exposure, determine whether outdoor activity is safe, or predict individual health effects.
Related Castlegar wildfire context
Smoke and air quality can change even when no confirmed wildfire is close to Castlegar. Use the local wildfire page for current official incidents, the fire-danger page for broad fire-weather context, and the province view when you need a wider regional picture.