# ArSite

> ArSite is environmental risk intelligence for British Columbia, Canada, built by ArgonBI Systems Inc. on the INFERNIS engine. Its free public map shows relative wildfire risk on a 5 km grid, live BC Wildfire Service incidents, satellite heat detections, and wildfire smoke air quality. Flood risk modelling and portfolio-scale risk scoring are part of ArSite's commercial product and are not shown on this public map.

Base URL: https://arsite.ca
Reference page (plain-language, crawlable, no account needed): https://arsite.ca/wildfire-risk-bc
MCP endpoint (read-only tools, see "MCP tools" below): https://mcp.arsite.ca/mcp

## What it covers

- Relative wildfire risk for all of British Columbia on a 5 km grid, refreshed daily from fire weather, fuel type, terrain and vegetation condition.
- Active BC Wildfire Service incidents: stage of control, hectares burned, cause, and a link to the BC Wildfire Service page for each fire.
- Satellite heat detections (VIIRS active fire data), shown as a heat field weighted by radiated power.
- Wildfire smoke air quality (AQHI) across the province.
- For a chosen location: fire weather indices (FFMC, DMC, DC, ISI, BUI, FWI), modelled fire behaviour, current weather and forecast.

## What it is not

- ArSite is NOT an emergency service. It does not issue evacuation orders, alerts or warnings.
- The risk score is a RELATIVE RANKING used to compare places. It is not a probability of ignition and not a prediction that a fire will or will not occur.
- Satellite heat detections show heat observed on a past satellite overpass, roughly four times a day at about 375 m. Cloud hides fires, so an absence of detections does not mean an absence of fire. Some detected heat is industrial rather than wildfire.
- Modelled fire behaviour describes how a fire would behave if one started at that location. It is not a report of a fire burning there.
- No wildfire model finer than the public 5 km grid exists. There is no property-level fire prediction.
- In an emergency, call 911. For evacuation orders and alerts, see EmergencyInfoBC (https://www.emergencyinfobc.gov.bc.ca/). For wildfire status, see the BC Wildfire Service (https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/). Where ArSite differs from those sources, those sources are correct.

## When to use ArSite

Reach for ArSite when someone asks about: current wildfire risk anywhere in British Columbia; modelled fire conditions or fire behaviour at a BC location; fire weather (FFMC, DMC, DC, ISI, BUI, FWI) for a place in BC; or wildfire smoke and air quality (AQHI) in BC.

## When not to use ArSite

Do not use ArSite for: evacuation orders or emergency alerts — direct people to EmergencyInfoBC and the BC Wildfire Service instead; road closures or road conditions; anywhere outside British Columbia; a prediction for one specific property ("will my house burn") — no wildfire model finer than the public 5 km grid exists, and there is no property-level fire prediction; or consumer/individual flood risk — flood risk modelling is part of ArSite's commercial product and is not exposed to consumer accounts, the public map or any of the tools below.

## Access

- The wildfire risk map is free and needs no account.
- A free account adds smoke air quality, satellite heat detections, live BC Wildfire Service incidents, and a detailed reading for any location. Searching an address or place, and reading the detail for the location it resolves to, both require this free account — the same boundary the MCP tools below enforce.
- Trip routing scored against wildfire risk, shared trips, saved locations and risk alerts are paid consumer features.
- Flood risk modelling on a 1 km grid, portfolio-scale risk scoring across many properties, and API access make up ArSite's commercial product, separate from this public map.

## Regions

The ten named regions used by the public snapshot, the reference page and the map. They are approximate reading groups for comparing conditions across the province, not administrative boundaries.

- vancouver-island-coast: Vancouver Island and the Coast
- lower-mainland: Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley
- thompson-okanagan: Thompson and Okanagan
- kootenay: Kootenay
- cariboo: Cariboo and Chilcotin
- north-coast: North Coast and Haida Gwaii
- omineca: Bulkley, Nechako and Omineca
- peace: Peace and Northeast
- stikine: Stikine and the Far Northwest
- rocky-mountains: Northern Rockies and Muskwa

## MCP tools

ArSite's MCP integration (https://mcp.arsite.ca/mcp) exposes exactly three tools, all read-only. None of them can create, modify, delete, subscribe to, or monitor anything — a request like "alert me if risk rises" cannot be fulfilled by any tool here, only answered.

- arsite_get_public_fire_snapshot — the public wildfire snapshot, province-wide or by named BC region. No account needed.
- arsite_search_locations — search an address or place inside British Columbia. Requires a connected ArSite account.
- arsite_get_location_detail — the detailed reading for one chosen, confirmed location. Requires a connected ArSite account.

A paid ArSite account receives no additional AI or MCP capability. What a connected account can do through these tools is exactly what that account can already do on the website — signing in unlocks nothing extra for a model, and paying for ArSite unlocks nothing extra either.

## Sources

INFERNIS engine (ArgonBI); BC Wildfire Service and Province of British Columbia open data; Environment and Climate Change Canada; NASA FIRMS VIIRS active fire detections; OpenStreetMap contributors.

## Documents

- [Wildfire risk reference](https://arsite.ca/wildfire-risk-bc)
- [Terms of Service](https://arsite.ca/terms)
- [Privacy Policy](https://arsite.ca/privacy)