Long and difficult wildfire season off to an early start

It looks like we might be in for a long and difficult wildfire season in B.C.

Crews near Prince George are battling the Little Botail lake fire, the first major wildfire of the season.

Firefighters are still fighting to gain the upper hand on the human-caused blaze. The fire is now estimated to be 4,500 hectares in size and is zero per cent contained. It is expected to grow.

Provincial fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek says it is not unprecedented to see a major fire this early in the season, but the fire did grow significantly in the last couple of days.

“We are seeing a moderate fire danger rating through most of the province, some areas of high in there as well,” says Skrepnek. “Given the weather forecast for the next few days, it is anticipated to be hot and dry, so we can only expect that fire danger rating to continue rising from there.”

Meanwhile, Environment Canada says we are expecting warmer than normal summer this year.

“That’s all due to the Pacific water temperatures being also warmer than normal,” says meteorologist Matt MacDonald with Environment Canada, “So the summer forecast — hot and warm.”

MacDonald says they are expecting conditions to be up anywhere from two to four degrees warmer than normal.

He says the southwestern corner of the province experienced a very dry April with only half the normal amount of precipitation. “So we are getting toward drought conditions in southwestern B.C.”