It has been a record-setting wildfire season so far. More than 10 million hectares of land has burned…that’s just under the size of Newfoundland without Labrador.
Data from Natural Resources Canada shows this is the most land burned by wildfires in the country’s history.
There have been 880 wildfires so far this year with officials saying the season is only half over.
The Canada Interagency Forest Fire Centre says most of the fires are in western Canada.
In B.C. there are 374 active fires, less than half of them are located in the Prince George Fire Centre (161).
Elsewhere, 98 of them are in the Northwest, 30 are in the Cariboo, 34 are currently located in Kamloops with another 38 in the Coast and 13 within the Southeast.
Meanwhile two firefighters have died battling blazes, one in B.C. and another in the Northwest Territories.
Many communities across BC, including Prince George, lowered their flags at half-mast last week in honour of 19-year-old Devyn Gale who passed away while battling a blaze near Revelstoke.
In addition, two advance teams from the Canadian armed forces are now on the ground in B.C. – one in the Prince George area and the other in the Kamloops area.
They’re preparing for the arrival of hundreds of troops to help in the battle against wildfires in our province.
– with files from Vista Radio newswire
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