There are now 125 fires burning in BC, 16 of which started Saturday.
Since April 1st, there have been 884 fires and these have destroyed about 588,000 hectares. Suppression efforts have cost nearly $220 million.
Chief Fire Information officer Kevin Skrepnek isn’t anticipating the fire activity to slow down.
“We’ve had an extraordinarily busy month already, in many ways unprecedented in terms of what we’ve been facing. Of course, August is typically one of our busiest months across the province. This situation in all likelihood is going to be getting worse before it gets better.”
Conditions will remain hot and dry across the south this weekend and into next week. Luckily, winds in most areas should be light. Thunderstorms are possible throughout the east during this time and in the south on Sunday.
“If we do see those storms occur there’s likely going to be very little rain with those storms. If we do have lightning, there’s a high likelihood we’re going to be seeing new fires start as a result of that and, given just how tinder dry it is out there, those fires are likely going to be quite a challenge for us.”
There is over 3,500 personnel working on these fires, including 500 from out of province. There are also 209 air crafts.