BURSTB.C. wildfire officials presented a grim forecast on Tuesday (July 14).
Despite B.C. experiencing a relatively light wildfire season so far, extremely dry forest fuels and a high likelihood of lightning without rain mean fresh fires are expected in the coming days.
Dry lightning and wind are forecast across most of B.C. starting Wednesday afternoon and expected to continue into Thursday and Friday. Southern parts of the province will see the highest risk.
“This is absolutely the time to be diligent in this province,” said Cliff Chapman, BC Wildfire Service’s operations director. “We are potentially going to be dealing with a significant wildfire event in the next 24 hours.”
BC Wildfire personnel are on alert and “ready to respond,” he said.
Lightning is most likely in the central, south-central, southeastern and northeastern parts of the province. The situation is the most dire in south-central B.C., where conditions are the driest.
These areas have the “highest potential for explosive fire behaviour,” Chapman said.
He added that doesn’t mean that there aren’t pockets elsewhere in the province, including in the north, where a fire can start and spread.
So far this season, approximately 440 fires have burned roughly 25,000 hectares. Despite the dry weather, the season has not been nearly as bad as the past few years. By this time last year, more than 700,000 hectares had burned from 544 fires. In 2023, the worst season on record, 1.2 million hectares had burned by mid-July from more than 1,000 fires.
While weather is the main reason for the less severe fire season, Forests Minister Ravi Parmar also credits public wildfire reports and BC Wildfire Service’s efforts with helping to get fires under control more quickly.
More to come.