A fire investigator from Alberta sheds light on what may be going on behind the scenes of the investigations into the wildfires that started in early August north of Miramichi and Moncton.
Proving a fire was human-caused can take months or years
Jennifer Sweet · CBC News
· Posted: Sep 16, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
Traces of a small wildfire in the UNB woodlot in Fredericton. Investigators can examine burn scars and determine which way the fire spread. (Jennifer Sweet/CBC)
It’s been over a month since the start of the two largest and most disruptive wildfires, so far, in an exceptionally busy season in New Brunswick, and an outside expert in wildfire investigation says it could take much longer before the causes are officially determined.
The Oldfield Road fire started Aug. 6 and led to considerable anxiety for residents of Miramichi, about 15 kilometres south. It burned more than 1,400 hectares and caused a detour on Route 8 for a couple of weeks.
The Pitt fire, in the Irishtown area north of Moncton, started Aug. 10 and had about 1,500 residents frantically packing up their belongings as they braced for possible evacuation — a situation that continued for a few days.
These were just two of 348 fires this season, which officially continues until the end of October,
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