No fire suppression efforts were directed at the fire. Fire crews were spread thin because of numerous blazes in B.C., the Yukon Territory and Alberta. At the time, the Alberta forestry department's policy was to respond only to fires within 16 kilometres (10 miles)Tymstra, Chinchaga Firestorm, p. 9 of settlements and major roads. A request by the fire ranger at Keg River to fight the fire with a ground crew was denied by provincial fire managers. According to Tymstra, the Chinchaga fire changed the way Alberta responded to forest fires.
