British Columbia, ranked by wildfire risk.

This map answers one question for anywhere in the province: how does today’s wildfire risk here compare with everywhere else? The IGNIS model runs once a day over all 41,857 five-kilometre cells in British Columbia, reading 27 measured inputs: the six Canadian Fire Weather Index codes, live weather, soil moisture, terrain, landscape position, season and 75 years of local ignition history. It publishes an IGNIS Rank for each one. The map opens where you are and the hexagons resolve as you zoom in. Free to read, no account needed.

ArSite is environmental risk intelligence for British Columbia, built by ArgonBI Systems Inc. on the INFERNIS engine, whose fire science is published as open source so the method can be checked. This map is its free wildfire surface, and the IGNIS model behind it is free for anyone to use. A free account adds address search, the exact IGNIS Rank, fire weather context and a forecast. Two standing property-risk models built on the same engine, EMBER for fire and CREST for flood, are our commercial products, in early access for companies.

What this map shows

A relative ranking of wildfire risk across fuel-bearing ground in British Columbia, on a 5 km grid, aggregated into hexagons that get finer as you zoom in. Colour shows the aggregate for an area on a six-level scale; a dashed outline marks an area holding higher-risk ground than its aggregate suggests.

It is built to be compared, not read in isolation: use it to see which parts of the province are drier and more exposed than others today, then narrow in on the ones that matter to you.

How it works

The IGNIS model runs daily over the province, combining current weather, Canadian Fire Weather Index components, soil moisture, fuel type, vegetation state, terrain and local ignition history for every 5 km cell. Each cell gets an IGNIS Rank, which the engine sorts into six danger levels using thresholds fitted on held-out historical seasons rather than chosen by hand.

ArSite aggregates those cells into H3 hexagons for display. The finest hexagon shown is about 36 km², which is coarser than a 5 km cell on purpose, because drawing anything finer would imply detail the model never produced.

An IGNIS Rank is a triage ranking, not a calibrated probability. Compare places by relative position, not by reading a level as a percentage chance. INFERNIS publishes no calibrated probability of ignition anywhere, and says so in its own claims ledger.

Each hexagon is drawn as a regular shape on its true H3 centre. H3 cells are equal-area rather than regular, so a literal outline looks skewed; the drawn corners sit within about 5% of the real ones, well inside the 5 km cell the reading already covers.

Prefer a written summary? Read the plain-language wildfire risk reference.

By region, without the map

The same surface as text. Regions are approximate reading groups, not administrative boundaries, and each aggregate covers only fuel-bearing ground inside it.

  • Vancouver Island and the CoastLevel 1, lowestcontains level 6, highest3,505 cells
  • Lower Mainland and Fraser ValleyLevel 1, lowestcontains level 6, highest1,053 cells
  • Thompson and OkanaganLevel 1, lowestcontains level 6, highest2,659 cells
  • KootenayLevel 1, lowestcontains level 6, highest2,431 cells
  • Cariboo and ChilcotinLevel 1, lowestcontains level 6, highest4,248 cells
  • North Coast and Haida GwaiiLevel 1, lowest8,556 cells
  • Bulkley, Nechako and OminecaLevel 1, lowestcontains level 6, highest4,288 cells
  • Peace and NortheastLevel 1, lowestcontains level 34,235 cells
  • Stikine and the Far NorthwestLevel 1, lowestcontains level 47,296 cells
  • Northern Rockies and MuskwaLevel 1, lowestcontains level 6, highest985 cells

Legend

Six display steps, lowest to highest, from the engine’s own calibrated scale. A calm province stays at step 1 everywhere; the ramp is not stretched to fill itself.

  1. Level 1, lowest
  2. Level 2
  3. Level 3
  4. Level 4
  5. Level 5
  6. Level 6, highest
  • Non-combustible
  • No reading

A dashed outline marks an area whose aggregate hides higher-risk ground inside it. Zoom in to see where.

What an account adds

  • Search an address or place instead of hunting on the map.
  • The exact IGNIS Rank and danger level for a location.
  • Fuel measured around the point from 30 m land cover.
  • Fire weather and fire behaviour context.
  • Air quality and smoke context.
  • A ten-day forecast.
  • An API key for programmatic access to the engine.
Create a free account

ArSite is where INFERNIS becomes usable: the map, the location readings and the API keys are all provisioned here, free. EMBER and CREST, standing property fire and flood risk scored across a whole book of properties, are the commercial products, in early access for companies rather than individual visitors.

Coverage and updates

Area
British Columbia, Canada
Resolution
5 km grid
Grid cells
41,857
Cadence
Daily
Grid version
bc-land-v1

In an emergency

This map is not an emergency information source. For active fires, evacuation orders and alerts, go to the official services.

  • BC Wildfire Service
  • EmergencyInfoBC
  • Air Quality Health Index

What this map does not show

  • Not a probability that a fire will start or reach you, and not an official warning, evacuation order or alert.
  • Not active fire locations, road status or air quality on the free map. Those and satellite heat detections are part of what a free account adds.
  • Not a property-level assessment. The IGNIS Rank shown here is a 5 km cell reading, and no wildfire model finer than 5 km exists anywhere at ArSite. Our commercial EMBER model does measure the ground around a coordinate at 30 m, but that is measurement rather than a finer model, and it is not on this map.
  • Not flood risk. Flood is our commercial CREST model, covering floodplain designation, terrain susceptibility and recorded flood events for a coordinate, and is not shown on this public map.

Common questions

Where can I see wildfire risk for British Columbia?
ArSite shows relative wildfire risk for every 5 km of British Columbia on a free map at arsite.ca, and as a plain-language reference at arsite.ca/wildfire-risk-bc. Risk is refreshed daily from weather, fuel and terrain, and the hexagons on the map resolve to finer detail as you zoom in.
How do I check the wildfire risk for my property or address in BC?
Sign in to ArSite and search the address. You get the IGNIS Rank and danger level for the 5 km cell containing it, the fuel actually measured around that point from 30 m land cover, how exposed it is to fire in neighbouring terrain, nearby active incidents, smoke and air quality, and a ten-day outlook. Note that the smallest modelled unit is a 5 km cell: this is a location reading, not a property-level assessment or an insurance appraisal.
Does ArSite use machine learning to predict wildfire risk?
Yes. ArSite is powered by the INFERNIS engine. Its IGNIS model reads 27 measured inputs for every 5 km cell in British Columbia once a day - the six Canadian Fire Weather Index codes, live weather, soil moisture, terrain, landscape position, season, and 75 years of local ignition history - and publishes an IGNIS Rank for each cell. That Rank is a relative ranking used to compare places, not a calibrated probability that a fire will start. No wildfire model finer than the public 5 km grid exists.
Is the ArSite risk score a probability that a fire will start?
No. The score is a relative ranking used to compare places against each other, not a calibrated probability of ignition and not a prediction that a fire will or will not occur. Compare places by their relative position on the ramp, not by reading a level as a percentage chance.
Where are the active wildfires in BC right now?
ArSite shows active incidents published by the BC Wildfire Service, including stage of control, hectares burned and cause, alongside satellite heat detections. The BC Wildfire Service remains the authoritative source, and ArSite links to their page for every incident.
Where does ArSite wildfire data come from?
Open government and scientific sources only. Weather and forecasts from Environment and Climate Change Canada, fuel typing and the fire weather reference implementation from Natural Resources Canada, land cover, forest inventory, biogeoclimatic zones and 180,329 dated wildfire incident records since 1950 from the Government of British Columbia, vegetation condition from NASA and Copernicus, and terrain from Canada national digital elevation model. Every source is public and citable.
Is the BC wildfire risk map free?
Yes. The wildfire risk map is free to read with no account. A free account adds smoke air quality, satellite heat detections, live BC Wildfire Service incidents, a detailed reading for any location, and a rate-limited API key. Trip routing, sharing and alerts are paid consumer features.
Is there a wildfire risk API for British Columbia?
Yes. ArSite provisions API keys for the INFERNIS engine. A free account gets a rate-limited REST/JSON key covering the wildfire risk reading for a coordinate - its relative rank, danger level and the six Canadian Fire Weather Index components - plus grid coverage and data attribution. Fire weather detail, live conditions, forecasts, explanations, historical trends and nearby-incident lookups are on the paid plans, as is flood data. Our implementation of the Canadian Fire Weather Index System is published as open source at github.com/argonBIsystems/infernis, tested against the worked example published with the standard, so the fire-weather arithmetic can be checked independently.
What does ArSite offer beyond the free wildfire map?
ArSite is environmental risk intelligence for British Columbia. The IGNIS wildfire model is free for anyone to use, on the public map and with a free account. Beyond that, two standing property-risk models are our commercial products: EMBER for fire and CREST for flood, scored across a whole book of properties, alongside higher-volume API plans. They are in early access for companies rather than individual visitors. A free account already includes a rate-limited API key.
Is ArSite an emergency service?
No. ArSite is an information product and must never be used as an emergency service. It does not issue evacuation orders or alerts. In an emergency call 911, and follow EmergencyInfoBC and the BC Wildfire Service for orders and alerts.

Sources

  • Environment and Climate Change Canada (MSC): Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada
  • Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) / ECMWF: Generated using Copernicus Climate Change Service information
  • NASA LANCE / EOSDIS: We acknowledge the use of data and imagery from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS, https://earthdata.nasa.gov/firms), part of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS).
  • NASA LP DAAC / Microsoft Planetary Computer: MODIS data courtesy of NASA LP DAAC and NSIDC.
  • European Union / ESA / Esri / Microsoft Planetary Computer: Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data [Year].
  • Government of Canada: Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
  • Province of British Columbia: Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – British Columbia.
  • Open-Meteo: Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (CC-BY 4.0).
  • Basemap geography from OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
ArArSite

Wildfire and flood risk for British Columbia, measured at the address and reported with the method attached.

Free

  • Wildfire map
  • Wildfire risk in B.C.

Commercial

  • Property risk
  • How the models work
  • One address, a book, or the API

Legal

  • Terms
  • Privacy
ArSite is a product of ArgonBI Systems Inc. Built with INFERNIS.Request early access to EMBER and CREST