More than 300 wildfires burning across B.C.
Posted August 1, 2018 6:21 am.
Last Updated August 1, 2018 10:46 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – After a vicious 24 hours of lightning strikes, there are now more than 300 wildfires burning in B.C. and there is more in the forecast.
The lightning has been widespread but the Cariboo has seen the most new fire starts thanks mostly to the hot and dry weather last week, which brought along lightning storms. And that weather could continue.
“There is more lightning in the forecast at least for the next 24 hours that we’re anticipating, especially in central B.C. and then extending a bit into the south and north as well. We’ll be keeping a close eye on weather patterns over the next 24 hours,” says Fire Information Officer Ryan Turcot.
Crews are fighting some highly-visible blazes near 100 Mile House and Lac La Hache, but no structures are being threatened at this time.
About 130 new wildfires started on Tuesday, including 21 reported in the Prince George Fire Centre.
An evacuation alert is in effect for at least two properties in that region, where the Chutanli Lake wildfire is about 730 hectares in size.
The Shovel Lake wildfire burning west of Prince George is 5,000 hectares.
In the Kamloops Fire Centre, The Mt. Eneas blaze south of Peachland is nearly 1,800 hectares but classified as “under control.”
The Goode’s Creek wildfire at Okanagan Mountain Park near Kelowna is an estimated 1,370 hectares and still out of control.
The Snowy Mountain wildfire is now over 6,000 hectares. That blaze is burning south of Keremos and is still uncontained. More than 860 properties are under evacuation alert.
The 1,500-hectare Placer Mountain fire south of Princeton has not been contained.
Turcot adds the B.C. day long weekend can typically be problematic and crews are concerned heading into the weekend, but there’s a silver lining.
“It means there’s more people out there, which means more potential for human-caused fire starts. Also there will be more eyes out in the back country,” he explains. “The most important message for people out in the back country is if you see a wildfire, report a wildfire,” he says.
“It’s really important that folks are heading to the campfire bans that are in place for the southern half of B.C….They’re in place for a very good reason right now, the fire danger across the province ranges from high to extreme and given all the lightening caused activity that we’re responding to we really don’t need any human caused fire in the mix, taking away critical resources from the fires we’re already responding to.”
Fines for failing to comply with campfire bans, or improperly disposing of lit cigarette butts can be as high as $1,150.
He adds since April 1st, about 71,000 hectares of land has burned in B.C., which may not sound like a lot when you compare it to last year for example, but Turcot is prefacing that, reminding us there’s still a month left in the summer season.
-With files from Sonia Aslam, Amelia John
