# 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/map
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, where you should 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"), because no wildfire model finer than the public 5 km grid exists and there is no property-level fire prediction; or consumer/individual flood risk, because 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.
- The IGNIS wildfire model is free to use: on the public map with no account, and for any address with a free account.
- EMBER (standing property fire risk) and CREST (standing property flood risk), scored across many properties, plus higher-volume API access, are ArSite's commercial products. They are in early access for companies and are 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)