Background and Methods:

After a smoky summer season in Canada last summer, I wanted to think about how to expand useful fire prevention methods in one of the Canadian provinces hit the hardest, Alberta. Alberta has an active fire lookout system, but they have scaled it back a lot in recent years, and closed previously active stations.

I wanted to find out which areas would most benifit from a new fire lookout. There were a lot of criteria to consider, since many factors lead to a fire starting and being caught early.

Elevation and a clear view were most important, while the position of existing wildfire lookout towers and the extent and location of previous wildfires were ranked just a step down, and remain highly critical. Temperature and dryness were my next consideration, and I also wanted to factor in the locations of existing parks and population centers (You don't need a fire lookout in the middle of a city). With these considerations factored in, you can see areas where a new lookout would be most suitable (darker purple) and where they are not needed (yellow).

My results show a few key areas that could benefit from new fire lookouts. The southern and northern ends of the province have both been sites of previous fires, and the mountains and hills in the southern ends would make for great lookout locations. To the north is the Wood Buffalo National Park of Canada, which would be a good place to catch fires before they spread out of hand.