Climate change isn’t the only reason BC’s wildfire season has started early: expert
Posted May 22, 2016 2:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – BC wildfire season off to a scorching start and it’s not just climate change that lead to such an early start in BC.
El Nino is partly to blame for the dry conditions around the province says John Innes with UBC. “El Nino was responsible for the very low snow levels that occurred in the Interior. We actually had quite a bit of snow on the coast which is why it is so complex and right now snow levels have declined. They are way below normal conditions.”
But Innes notes climate change is also partly to blame, admitting it’s hard to measure its impact, because it doesn’t start fires, only creates the conditions that lead to them. “If this is a trend that is going to continue, we are going to have to change a lot of the ways we do things and we are going to have to improve our fire safe procedures a lot so communities are safe from large scale forest fires.”
He believes we may have to start preparing for fire season sooner to protect vulnerable communities as the yearly temperature pattern keeps climbing.
Several fires are still scorching across northeastern BC
Wildfire information officer Amanda Reynolds says crews are making progress against the Siphon Creek and Beatton Airport Road fires burning near Fort St John.
“We have had some relief from the weather over the past couple of days. We have had some snow, actually in Fort St John and some rain so that has really helped with the crews. They are just continuing with containment lines and making great progress on these fires.”
Reynolds is warning people to be careful. “Be extremely cautious when you are having a campfire, never leave a campfire unattended, and always make sure that you have a shovel or at least 8 litres of water nearby. Make sure that the area where you are having your campfire is fuel free.”
Reynolds adds all of the evacuation alerts in the Peace Region have been rescinded, but those two fires have burned over 100,000 hectares so far.
