Fire bans

The Government of Alberta:

• is the wildfire authority (under the Forest and Prairie Protection Act) in the FPA of Alberta
• manages and responds to all wildfires in this area
• is responsible for issuing permits and putting on fire bans

Any city, town, village or summer village in the FPA has the authority to put on their own fire bans.

During times of high wildfire hazard, the province may use a ministerial order to issue a fire restriction, fire ban, off-highway vehicle (OHV) restriction or forest closure within the FPA. This is a temporary law put in place to lower the risk of human-caused wildfires when the hazard is high. See Wildfire compliance and enforcement for a list of past and present orders related to Forestry Division activities.

Safe wood campfires should be within a metal, brick or rock fire ring. They are required to:

• be on rock, gravel, sand, or another non-combustible surface that extends at least one metre around the fire
• have a responsible person in attendance to keep the fire under control at all times and extinguish it before leaving
• have enough water on site to extinguish the fire

Safe wood campfires on private land include private land campgrounds and private land recreation areas. Municipalities, campgrounds and parks (federal and provincial), may have additional fire safety requirements.

A designated campground includes campgrounds on private and public land provided the occupant has their safe wood campfires in a permanently installed engineered fire ring.

An indoor wood fire is a fire inside a structure (such as facility, building, tent or RV) and contained within a device with a chimney and spark arrestor.

All devices (deep fryers and tiki torches) must be used per manufacturer standards.

See what kind of activities you can do during different levels of fire restrictions.

Fire ban system approved activities list