Fall has arrived across the province. But despite the increase in rain and cooler temperatures, BC Wildfire Service says the threat of wildfires is still alive.
Fire information officer Erica Berg says regions across the province have experienced below-seasonal temperatures and increased rain. However, many of B.C.’s water basins remain at drought levels, and removing the threat potential would be irresponsible.
“We are more firmly into fall, so the fire danger has decreased,” she says. “We still have over 300 fires burning across the province and we anticipate they will continue burning throughout the winter. They could also resurface in the spring.
“There is still the potential for new fires to pop up, and that is the result of the drought conditions.”
According to BC Wildfire Service, this year was officially the most expensive and destructive on record with 2,227 fires this year burning almost 3 million hectares across the province. Over 500 were human-caused.
Berg says although the wildfire season is slowing down and restrictions across the province are being lifted, everyone should exercise extreme caution if they are planning to burn outdoors.
“Open burning has resumed in many areas of the province, but areas that were previously impacted by wildfires still have an environmental risk,” she says. “Landscape could be less stable with loose soil and fallen trees, so we are asking everyone to be careful in those areas.”
Berg adds firefighters are still battling to get the remaining fires under control and monitoring potential hotspots for new startups. She asks people to be mindful of these conditions before deciding to ignite or venture out into impacted areas.
“With hunting season starting, we are asking everyone to be aware of crews fighting to extinguish remaining fires, and monitoring those which are out of control and working to perform suppression efforts,” she says.
Berg says there is no real date as to when the province could start to see the wildfire season ease up, and the province is not out of the woods yet.
“We had one fire start-up in the Prince George area, which grew substantially over a 24-hour period, so it is very hard to provide a cut-off time for when our fire season will end because of the drought.”
BC Wildfire Service is encouraging everyone to check their website for local conditions before starting outdoor burns.
