We are five days into July, and it is already the third-worst wildfire season on record, based on Hectares burned.
1,044,503.042 hectares have burned across BC in 634 wildfires – the Prince George Fire Centre has been responsible for dealing with 1,030,978.275 Hectares of those fires.
“It was something we started to get asked earlier on in the fire season, ‘Is this going to be the worst wildfire season on record?'” Cliff Chapman, the BC Wildfire Service’s (BCWS) Director of Provincial Operations, said in a media conference today (Wednesday). “I would be willing to say I think there is potential that we will burn the most Hectares ever recorded in BC’s History this year.”
The worst fire year on record right now is 2018 – 1,354,284 hectares burned in 2,117 fires.
It is worth noting the Donnie Creek wildfire, north of Fort St. John, is currently sitting at 571,512 Hectares, which is the largest single fire in the province’s history, and has contributed roughly half of the season’s total area burned.
While these fires have not caused many large-scale evacuations or alerts, it is far too soon to say if that will hold throughout the summer.
“In terms of impacts of those fires, we won’t really know until we get through the next couple months,” Chapman said, adding some significant alerts have already needed to be put in place this season, namely Fort St. John back in May.
International help is continuing to pour in to help Canada fight fires, Chapman said there are 60 firefighters on their way to the Prince George Fire Centre from the United States, and another 100 coming from Mexico.
The BCWS predicts they will need each and every one, they said high levels of drought across the province combined with lightning storms that are expected to roll through BC in the coming days will undoubtedly start new fires.
“We need to expect that July and August could be hot and dry for the entire two months,” Chapman said. “We may see very limited rain, and what would be deemed more of a typical summer, maybe even atypical if we see seasonal temperatures rising.”
46 new fires sprung up over Canada Day weekend alone – most of which are now either out or under control.
According to Chapman, the BCWS received around 1000 calls reporting these wildfires, which he said was exactly what they wanted to see.
Anyone wanting to report a wildfire should call *555, even if you think the fire may have already been called in.