Canadian wildfire status definitions
Understand common Canadian wildfire status labels such as out of control, being held, under control, monitored, modified response, and extinguished.
Important: agencies define their own statuses
Canada does not use one perfectly uniform public status vocabulary across every province and territory. FireRadar normalizes common labels for readability while preserving source-specific meaning and avoiding unsupported assumptions. A status also does not replace official emergency information or describe the risk to a specific address.
Common status labels
Out of control / not under control
The fire is spreading, is expected to keep growing, or is not expected to remain within the current perimeter or control lines under current or forecast conditions. Exact wording and operational criteria vary by agency.
Being held
With the current or assigned resources and expected conditions, the fire is projected to remain within established boundaries, a perimeter, or control lines. This does not mean the fire is extinguished, and crews may still be actively reinforcing containment and mopping up.
Under control
Suppression has progressed to the point that the responsible agency does not expect the fire to spread beyond its current or established boundaries. Under-control fires may still be active incidents and can remain on official maps while crews patrol or extinguish remaining hot spots.
Monitored
The responsible agency is observing and assessing the fire. The response may be limited or modified based on location, values at risk, conditions, safety, and fire-management objectives.
Full response
The agency is applying sustained suppression action with the objective of controlling or extinguishing the fire as efficiently as conditions and resources permit.
Modified response
The agency is using a strategy between full suppression and observation. Tactics can change as weather, fire behaviour, access, values at risk, and operational priorities change.
Being patrolled
Crews may be checking the incident for remaining heat, smoke, or flare-ups after substantial suppression work. Some sources classify this as out or inactive; others retain it as a distinct stage.
Out / extinguished
The responsible agency has classified the incident as no longer active according to its own criteria. FireRadar keeps recent out records separate from active fires and shows them only within the current retention window.
Interim or final mapped perimeter
These labels describe the mapping state of a fire perimeter, not necessarily the operational incident status. FireRadar avoids treating a final mapped perimeter as an active-fire status when the source semantics indicate otherwise.
Unknown or not listed
The source did not provide a usable status or FireRadar could not confidently normalize it. This is different from a request failure, which must be shown as unavailable rather than unknown.
Compare the responsible wildfire agency
These official examples show why FireRadar keeps source-specific meaning in view rather than pretending every jurisdiction uses an identical national rulebook.
BC Wildfire Service stages of control
British Columbia publishes definitions for Out of Control, Being Held, Under Control, and Out, including the operational context behind each stage.
Alberta Wildfire status definitions
Alberta publishes its own definitions for Out of Control, Being Held, Under Control, and Monitored wildfire statuses.
Why “under control” still appears as active
An under-control incident can remain part of an agency's active-fire inventory until it is formally declared out, extinguished, inactive, or otherwise removed. FireRadar follows source-specific active rules rather than hiding every record containing the words “under control.”
Status does not equal local risk
A status label alone does not describe smoke, wind, fire intensity, rate of spread, road access, official emergency conditions, or danger to a specific address. Use official emergency information and local instructions for safety decisions.
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