Wildfire smoke near Kootenay Lake

BC Wildfire Service's own feed, read 5 min ago, lists 12 active wildfires within this site's tracked area around Kootenay Lake right now.

This count excludes any incident BC Wildfire Service’s own feed already marks “Out” — only a fire the service still lists as active appears below.

• Tower Creek #2 — Under Control, 1,327 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Poplar Creek — Under Control, 664 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Monk Creek — Under Control, 26.2 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Ezra Creek — Under Control, 143 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Calamity Creek — Under Control, 180.89 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Jumbo Creek — Under Control, 1,136 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Dodge Creek — Under Control, 15 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Priest River — Out of Control, 0.01 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Cooper Creek — Under Control, 0.1 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Rossieter Creek — Being Held, 0.009 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Hungry Creek — Under Control, 0.6 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire
• Kokanee Creek — Under Control, 13.7 ha. BC Wildfire Service’s own page for this fire

Wildfire incidents from the BC Wildfire Service open data.

BC Parks' own feed, read 5 min ago, shows no campfire ban in effect at any of the 9 parks this site tracks around the lake right now.

• Kokanee Creek Park: no campfire ban
• Kootenay Lake Park: no campfire ban
• Lockhart Beach Park: no campfire ban
• Pilot Bay Park: no campfire ban
• Drewry Point Park: no campfire ban
• West Arm Park: no campfire ban
• Kokanee Glacier Park: no campfire ban
• Cody Caves Park: no campfire ban
• Stagleap Park: no campfire ban

Source: BC Parks. A park missing from this list is one this site’s feed did not return a record for right now.

A campfire ban is a park-specific rule set by BC Parks, separate from any provincial open-burning prohibition or a municipality’s own bylaw. See camping on Kootenay Lake for each park’s current site count and reservation link alongside its campfire status.

Environment Canada’s Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) network has no monitoring station inside Kootenay Lake’s bounding box, so this site has no live AQHI reading to show for the lake itself. Checked 2026-09-22 against GeoMet’s own AQHI station list, filtered to the same area this site tracks everywhere else: zero stations returned.

The GeoMet query above returns only stations within the lake’s own bounding box; it says nothing about how close the nearest station outside that box sits, so this page does not estimate a distance to one.

Two places to check air quality directly, neither one read or mirrored by this site:

• The Province of BC’s AQHI station map, for the nearest reading outside the lake’s own basin.
• FireSmoke.ca, the University of British Columbia’s BlueSky Canada wildfire smoke forecast maps.

The province’s own AQHI health-message table, read 2026-09-22 against its AQHI table page, gives this plain guidance by risk category — the same wording it publishes for every AQHI station in the province, not one specific to this lake:

• Low risk — general population: “Ideal air quality for outdoor activities.” At-risk population: “Enjoy your usual outdoor activities.”
• Moderate risk — general population: “No need to modify your usual outdoor activities unless you experience symptoms such as coughing and throat irritation.” At-risk population: “Consider reducing or rescheduling strenuous activities outdoors if you are experiencing symptoms.”
• High risk — general population: “Consider reducing or rescheduling strenuous activities outdoors if you experience symptoms such as coughing and throat irritation.” At-risk population: “Reduce or reschedule strenuous activities outdoors. Children and the elderly should also take it easy.”
• Very high risk — general population: “Reduce or reschedule strenuous activities outdoors, especially if you experience symptoms such as coughing and throat irritation.” At-risk population: “Avoid strenuous activities outdoors. Children and the elderly should also avoid outdoor physical exertion.”

The same province-wide page directs anyone feeling unwell to call 8-1-1, or 9-1-1 for a medical emergency. This site carries no local supplement to that guidance.