More than 115 wildfires burning in B.C., fuelling concerns for a long, destructive season

The snow has just started to melt in some areas of B.C., while others are already dealing with wildfires.

According to the BC Wildfire Service, there are currently more than 115 active wildfires burning across the province.

Four of them started in the past 24 hours.

4:12 How weather is impacting B.C.’s early fire season

Residents in the Pine River area, south of Chetwynd, have now been allowed to go home after being ordered to leave on Wednesday due to the 50-hectare Wildmare Creek fire.

It is still listed as out of control.

The province says it is fully prepared, having learned from last year’s devastating wildfire season.

“We are prepared for an early start,” Bruce Ralston, B.C.’s minister of forests, told Global News.

“We had hoped that there wouldn’t be one, but we are well-prepared for that. That’s some of the takeaway that we learned from last season, which was the worst season in the history of the province.”

2:17 Returning home after the Bush Creek East wildfire

Sharon Nickel, a fire information officer with the Prince George Fire Centre, told Global News on Thursday that many parts of the province are seeing dry conditions.

“Like much of the province, but particularly the Peace Region in the northeast of the province, we’ve been experiencing some pretty persistent drought since the fall of 2022,” she said.

“So, not only is it the normal time of year where we see grass fires in the region, that’s compounded with a lot of dry fuel.”

Nickel said the Prince George Fire Centre still has holdover fires from last season, which are fires burning below the ground that were never fully extinguished.

“We are aware that some of them are producing smoke from within the perimeter,” she added. “That’s not uncommon. That’s not to be unexpected.”

0:58 1,600 hectare wildfire burning between Quesnel, Williams Lake

Officials are warning about the dry conditions and the risk involved.

Mike Bernier, the member of the legislature for Peace River South, said there’s “no moisture in the area,” which saw hardly any snowpack this winter.

Julia Nelson, acting mayor of Chetwynd, said her community is looking ahead to a long, hot fire season.

“I don’t know if we have the solutions to be able to contain and deal with that,” she said.

Nelson added that the province has moved the base for the BC Wildfire Service’s northern initial attack crew from Chetwynd to Dawson Creek, about 100 kilometres away.

“It’s only April, and our community was extremely at risk to burn. That fire was just a few kilometres away … and to me, that’s evidence that we do need more assistance.”

— with files from The Canadian Press