Forests Minister Katrine Conroy says it’s been a below-average wildfire season so far this year in British Columbia, but high fire risks are forecast for September.
She says the number of wildfires and the area they have burned since April both compare favourably with the 20-year average, with 1,355 fires charring 430 square kilometres this year.
That is only about one-sixth of the area burned by 1,515 fires to this date on average, and one-twentieth of the 8,650 square kilometres burned last year, when the province was scorched by the heat-dome weather event.
Conroy says 93 per cent of this season’s fires have been extinguished or are under control.
There are three wildfires of note remaining in the province – Battleship Mountain and Dinosaur Lake in the Prince George area and the Fat Dog Creek wildfire in Manning Park.
David MacKinnon, a trainee information assistant with the BC Wildfire Service said the Fat Dog Creek fire is currently about 20 hectares in size and was believed to have been started by lightning on Aug. 25.
“It’s currently monitor-only so there’s no suppression happening at this time,” he said. This is due to the fire being in a provincial park and it is not threatening any structures or infrastructure.
The Dinosaur Lake wildfire is only three hectares in size but is highly visible from Highway 29 and the community of Hudson’s Hope.
Sharon Nickel, a fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, told Global News no structures or infrastructure are being threatened at this time but given the location of the fire and the visibility it remains a wildfire of note.
Neil McLoughlin, a BC Wildfire Service spokesman, says up to 75 per cent of B.C. wildfires were caused by lightning this season, with 98,000 strikes recorded in August.
He says warm, dry weather is forecast to continue through September, which will keep fire risks high in the province’s southwest and northeast regions.
“So what do we have in store for September?” said McLoughlin.
“Right now, our Pacific Ocean temperatures remain three to five degrees Celsius above normal and that’s going to translate into warmer-than-normal temperatures through September for most of the province.”
-with files from Darrian Matassa-Fung