FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. – A $600 fine has been issued after a gender reveal party led to a wildfire in Alberta. Travis Fairweather, a wildfire information officer, says the party was taking place about 10 kilometres west of Fort McMurray…
VANCOUVER – Rainfall in the next three weeks is crucial if British Columbia hopes to avoid a devastating wildfire season, but the latest outlook from the BC Wildfire Service offers little optimism. The service says rainfall and temperatures were near…
VICTORIA – A crew of firefighters is heading to Manitoba to help with wildfires in that province. B.C.’s Forests Minister Katrine Conroy says 41 firefighters and two support staff were deployed on Wednesday. A statement from Conroy’s office says the…
PRINCE ALBERT, Sask. – Dry conditions and strong winds caused a large wildfire to grow Tuesday near Saskatchewan’s third-largest city even as firefighters fought the flames. “The fire continues to rage,” said Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne. The city of…
Wildfire is now moving into the range of a “peak peril” type of risk, similar to earthquakes and hurricanes, Risk Management Solutions, Inc. (RMS) told Canadian Underwriter recently. Overall, in both Canada and the United States, wildfire risks are starting…
Canada could potentially see $20-billion loss events from wildfire alone, according to recent simulations by Risk Management Solutions, Inc. (RMS). The odds of that happening would be “extremely rare, on the order of a 1-in-10,000-year return period,” Michael Young, vice…
Insurers are hoping it will be easier for homeowners to borrow money to raise their structures in areas at risk of flood or to replace roofs in wildfire-prone regions as a result of the federal budget announced Monday. In her…
It was another year of record-breaking disasters and crazy, dangerous weather from coast to coast, says Environment Canada’s senior climatologist. A vicious hailstorm in Calgary wrote off more cars than Albertans normally buy in an entire year. Heat in Ontario…
A client’s structure can remain standing after a wildfire, even when other buildings in the same neighbourhood burn down, because dozens of factors affect a property’s risk, experts said Thursday during a webinar. “The interesting thing about wildfire is [that]…
RED DEER, Alta. – A family-run company providing air-tanker support to control menacing wildfires in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Yukon is a little less busy these days, but it has nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic. “It has…
The central and Pacific coast of British Columbia could see an increased risk of wildfires this year, a new report predicts. And COVID-19 restrictions could make the risk higher, Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty warned in its 2020 Wildfire Report,…
KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A university located in the heart of one of British Columbia’s most volatile forest fire regions will lead new research in wildfire prediction, prevention and response. Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops was chosen for the research that…