More than a dozen wildfires are currently burning in Manitoba, with three considered out of control, the province’s wildfire service said Monday morning.
That’s a big increase from the number of wildfires Manitoba was battling just a few days ago.
“We were actually down to three fires going into the weekend,” Cailin Hodder of the Manitoba Wildfire Service told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Manitoba.
“Most of those (current fires) have been caused by lightning — that’s that storm system that came through the province through the weekend, and mostly in the eastern side of Manitoba.”
The stormy weekend weather wasn’t all negative, however. The rain did its part to help combat wildfires as well.
“We saw some areas of Manitoba got some significant rainfall, which was great,” Hodder said.
“Even though there were some storm systems that rolled through, lightning caused fires, but quickly saw some rain support with those firefighting efforts.”
Hodder said there has thankfully been a notable drop in human-caused blazes recently, but lightning remains a threat, so the wildfire service will be actively watching the forecast over the next few days.
“As we look into the next few days, we’re seeing a culmination of high temperatures, high humidity and lightning … so obviously something we’re concerned about and going to monitor.”