How the app works
Only official data. Refreshed every few minutes. Nothing leaves your phone that doesn’t need to.
WildFire-Ready pulls live information from official Canadian government feeds and displays it on one map for BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The app is free, bilingual, and ad-free. It is a companion to 911 and official channels — not a replacement.
What the app shows on the map
Active wildfires
Fire points from the BC Wildfire Service and Alberta Wildfire, including fire number, status, estimated size in hectares, and suspected cause when reported by the agency.
Satellite hotspots
Thermal anomalies detected by NASA FIRMS (VIIRS sensors on Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, and NOAA-21). Hotspots are heat signatures, not confirmed fires — a flare stack, controlled burn, or bright industrial source can trigger one.
Fire perimeters
Approximate fire outlines from BC Wildfire Service where published. Perimeters update less often than point status and can be hours or days behind the actual fire edge.
Air quality stations
AQHI readings from Environment and Climate Change Canada monitoring stations. The AQHI is a 1-10+ scale; higher numbers mean higher health risk from air pollution.
Road closures
Closures and major incidents from DriveBC and 511 Alberta. Use these to plan around evacuation routes, but always confirm with the source before travelling.
Evacuation alerts
Evacuation alerts and orders published by provincial emergency management (EmergencyInfoBC, Alberta Emergency) and Alert Ready. Always follow the instructions of local authorities.
More than the map
The map is the front door, but several screens around it shape the rest of the experience. Each is built on the same posture as the map — official feeds, hedged to the source, no surveillance, no marketing pings.
Smart push notifications
Four opt-in alert types — fire alerts, air quality threshold, evacuation alerts, and volunteer opportunities. Each type toggles independently in Profile → Notifications. Alerts only fire when something happens inside the watch radius of one of your saved locations.
Saved locations with custom radius
Save your home, family addresses, cabins, or work sites. Each location has its own watch radius — short for a city block, wider for the back-country. The map-based picker lets you place a pin anywhere in BC or Alberta.
WildFire-Ready Summary
A short, plain-language summary of the picture in your area — built from the same official feeds shown on the map. Available in English and Canadian French. Any safety-critical detail is hedged back to the agency that published it.
Fire restrictions lookup
Current campfire and open-burning categories, fire bans, and advisories — pulled from the BC Wildfire Service and Alberta regulator pages. Useful before a long weekend, a debris burn, or a back-country trip with a camp stove.
Light and dark themes
The app follows your phone's appearance setting. Map styling, colours, and chrome all switch — including the orange-on-black dark mode for night use. Override the system preference in Profile → Theme.
Quiet over-the-air updates
New releases land as silent updates between sessions — no prompts, no nags. A safety-critical fix can be required at launch via a minimum-version gate so no one is stranded on a broken build during fire season.
Accessibility
Light and dark themes follow your phone. Large-text scaling is respected. Interactive elements carry screen reader hints. Reduced motion is honoured for animations and slideshows. The app and the website both target WCAG 2.2 AA-equivalent behaviour as a baseline.
First-run onboarding
On first launch, three short pages introduce the map, the alert permission flow, and the companion-to-911 framing. Permissions are soft — you can skip location and notifications and still use the app. Permissions can be granted or revoked later in Profile.
Refresh cadence
Fire points and alerts are polled roughly every 5 minutes. Satellite hotspots from NASA FIRMS are polled every 30 to 60 minutes; new detections typically land in near-real-time about three hours after a satellite overpass. AQHI observations refresh hourly. Fire perimeters update less often — usually every 30 to 60 minutes when the agency republishes. All of this can be delayed or temporarily unavailable if an upstream feed is down.
Coverage area
WildFire-Ready covers BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba only. That is a deliberate scoping choice. We would rather cover two provinces well than ten provinces poorly. Adjacent regions — Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Saskatchewan — will be added as funding permits.
Data sources
BC Wildfire Service
The authoritative provincial source for wildfires in British Columbia. The app reads active-fire points and published perimeters from the BC Wildfire Service public feeds. Visit wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca.
Alberta Wildfire
The authoritative provincial source for wildfires in Alberta's Forest Protection Area. The app reads active-fire points from the Alberta Wildland Management Branch public feed. Visit wildfire.alberta.ca.
NASA FIRMS
NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System provides satellite-detected thermal anomalies worldwide. These hotspots can surface a fire before a ground agency confirms it, but they can also flag non-fire heat sources. Treat them as a lead, not a verdict. Visit firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov.
Environment and Climate Change Canada (AQHI)
ECCC operates the national Air Quality Health Index. The app reads current AQHI observations for monitoring stations in BC and Alberta. Visit weather.gc.ca/airquality.
DriveBC
BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's source for highway closures, construction, and major incidents. Check DriveBC directly if you are planning to travel near a fire area. Visit drivebc.ca.
511 Alberta
Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors' source for highway conditions, closures, and incidents. Visit 511.alberta.ca.
How the app handles your data
Most data never leaves your device. The app fetches official feeds directly from government servers on your phone, so your map view, your saved locations, and your precise location stay local. The only data transmitted from your device is a Firebase anonymous identifier and, if you enable push notifications, an Expo push token — both used only to deliver alerts. Crash reports are scrubbed and sent to Sentry to help fix bugs.
Full details are in the privacy policy.
Companion to 911
WildFire-Ready is a companion to 911 and official emergency services — not a replacement. In an emergency, call 911 and follow the instructions of local authorities, Alert Ready, EmergencyInfoBC, and Alberta Emergency.
Fire, air quality, road, weather, and detection information shown in the app comes from public government sources. Those feeds can be delayed, incomplete, or temporarily unavailable. Always confirm critical details with the authoritative source before acting. If you see smoke, flame, or a life-safety situation, call 911. Do not rely on this app to alert first responders.
WildFire-Ready is available in English and Canadian French. Change the language anytime in Profile → Language.