It may be late September, but wildfires continue to riddle southeast B.C.
According to the BC Wildfire Service, there are 60 wildfires in the Southeast Fire Centre. For perspective, that’s 21 more than the Coastal Fire Centre (39), and double the amount of the Kamloops Fire Centre (24).
And the forecast for the region will remain warm and dry, with daily highs in the low 20s for the next week, barring rain on Thursday.
Because of the current weather pattern, BC Wildfire says existing fires in the Kootenay Lake zone have become more visible to surrounding communities.
And one community, Kaslo, a village of about 1,000 people along the western shore of Kootenay Lake, has three fires burning nearby.
The Fry Creek wildfire is around 15 km north of Kaslo. It’s estimated at 900 hectares, in steep terrain, but is classified as being held.
The Briggs Creek wildfire is located 11.5 km southwest of Kaslo. It’s estimated at 2,160 hectares, but is also considered being held.
And around 43 km northeast of Kaslo is the Glacier Creek fire, which is estimated at 139 hectares but it also considered held.
The Southeast Fire Centre extends from the U.S. border in the south to Mica Dam in the north, and from the Okanagan Highlands and Monashee Mountains in the west, to the Alberta border in the east.
To date, there have been 1,562 wildfires this year, scorching 108,751 hectares.
The Kamloops Fire Centre has had the most fires this year (417), with the Southeast Fire Centre second at 398 and the Coastal Fire Centre having the third most (218).
However, the Prince George Fire Centre has had the most burned hectares (45,561), followed by the Kamloops Fire Centre (21,735) and the Northwest Fire Centre (14,539).
Visit BC Wildfire for the latest statistics.