Technology can detect wildfires. Do humans still have to?

After seven seasons working as a fire lookout — someone who watches for wildfires from a tower — near Peace River, Alta., Trina Moyles has witnessed some of the worst wildfire seasons Canada has seen.

"It's especially stressful when communities are threatened by fires and you can visibly see the wall of fire advancing," said Moyles. She's a journalist, photographer and creative producer who has published a memoir about her experience there, titled Lookout. 

"It's a very helpless feeling, but all you can do is watch the fire and the wind conditions and do your job."

Last year was Canada's worst wildfire season on record. Last December, fire chiefs from across the country went to Ottawa to ask for more financial assistance after 9,500 volunteer firefighters quit in 2023. The federal government announced $800,000 in additional funding this month to train and hire firefighters, in regular firefighting crews and for combating wildfires.

Meanwhile, new technologies to combat the blazes earned renewed, widespread coverage. Alberta and New Brunswick's work with AI and the Canadian Space Agency's dedicated fire-monitoring satellite were just a few of the newsworthy plans.

Technological developments have been on Moyles's mind throughout her career.  

If it takes humans out of towers, advanced technology like drones could eliminate the risk and cost of the job. But Moyles argues that technology can't entirely replace human lookouts like her, and the focus on the "sexy" tech means they aren't getting the support they need.

"There is a fear [among lookouts] that these jobs are not being invested in or upheld in the way that they should," she said.

Tova Krentzman is the director of Fire Tower, a documentary premiering at HotDocs on April 29. It follows six lookouts' experiences in this unique line of work. She's been getting to know lookouts since she worked as a cook at a "wildfire fighting camp" in 2020, and she could also see their concern. 

Krentzman pointed out that most of Canada doesn't use human lookouts anymore, and "in the world today, AI and technology, that's a big topic in general. I think it's on everyone's mind, right?"

Fire lookouts are responsible for observing the first inklings of a wildfire and reporting it. They spend four to six months (the length of the wildfire season) living alone in remote places and watching the horizon. 

According to Krentzman, Alberta has 100 fire towers manned with lookouts. Yukon has five, the Northwest Territories have three and British Columbia has one.

Between 2006 and 2021, lookouts such as Moyles detected about 30 per cent of the wildfires in Alberta. Ground patrols detected 17 per cent and air patrols detected 11 per cent. The only type that beat lookouts was "unplanned" detection (phone calls from the public, for example), with 42 per cent.

The key to the job is sharp eyes. Moyles said lookouts can detect wildfires when they're only 0.01 hectares in size, and catching them early is "critical" to wildfire response.