KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Weekend rain dampened British Columbia’s wildfire danger but added little more than a “drop in the bucket” of what’s needed to ease drought conditions provincewide, say officials.
On Monday, 166 wildfires were burning across the province, down from a high of 252 last week, announced the B.C. Wildfire Service.
The Adams West wildfire, about 20 kilometres southeast of Clearwater, is now 100 per cent contained and the Westside Road fire near West Kelowna is now 75 per cent contained.
The Bolean Lake Fire, located five kilometres northwest of Falkland, is now 75 per cent contained as well.
Yet, the provincial government expanded a Level 4 drought rating to the South Thompson, Similkameen, Kettle and Skagit areas because of ongoing low stream flows.
The advisory allows regional water managers to implement regulatory measures, such as the temporary suspension of water licences and short-term water approvals.
Vancouver Island, the South Coast and Lower Fraser areas were moved to a Level 4 drought rating — or extremely dry — almost two weeks ago.
Environment Canada meteorologist Matt MacDonald said weekend rainfall averaged 15 to 25 millimetres across the province.
“I think it had bigger ramifications to the forest fire danger,” said MacDonald. “It really helped, but as far as drought concerns, particularly in the South Coast, it was just a drop in the bucket because drought’s a type of phenomenon that develops over a period of months.”
MacDonald said a deep trough, meaning a broad area of low pressure, brought the rain, and the measurements were still coming in Monday afternoon.
He said cities like Prince George and Cranbrook received up to 5.1 millimetres of rain. Penticton, Vernon and Kelowna received from 9.6 to 19 millimetres of rain, and Vancouver and Victoria saw 19.4 and 7.2 millimetres of rain.
READ MORE: Full coverage of the wildfires burning around B.C.
Vancouver Island and the South Coast are the worst areas for drought, he said, and the three-month rain deficit stands at just 130 millimetres.
Fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek linked the rain and decreased forest-fire danger.
“Certainly, in terms of the major fires that we had across the province, we saw precipitation on just about all of them,” he said.
Skrepnek said 121 of the 166 fire currently burning were caused by lightning and the rest were sparked by people or are still under investigation.
He said five new fires broke out Sunday, bringing the season’s total to 1,340, with almost 3,000 square kilometres burned.
The Cariboo Fire Centre on Monday lifted the campfire ban in areas east of the Fraser River, permitting fires no larger than half a square metre, outdoor stoves, tiki torches and burn barrels. The centre has continued the ban west of the Fraser River.
In the rest of B.C., campfires are allowed in the Coastal Fire Centre’s fog zone, a narrow strip along the extreme west coast of Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, as well as the Northwest and Prince George fire centres.
Campfires are still banned in the Kamloops and Southeast fire centres.
The Vancouver suburb of Delta also downgraded its fire-danger rating, opening five previously closed parks.
After weeks of no rain, the skies opened up over the Coquihalla Highway between Merritt and Kamloops on Sunday, leading to multiple crashes.
-with files from Yuliya Talmazan
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