Minister of Emergency Mangement and Climate Readiness Bowinn Ma says we’re in a better position than last week when it comes to evacuation alerts and orders.
“Currently there’s approximately 55 people under evacuation order, and 2,200 people under evacuation alert,” she said.
Ma said the cooler weather and decrease in evacuation alerts and orders is not a sign the wildfire season is winding down.
“Wildfires remain extremely active throughout the province with more than 400 fires active and dozens of new fire starts daily,”
“The good news is that the BC Wildfire Service’s initial attack efforts are proving successful, however, with this cooler weather we may see also increased lightning which has the potential to cause more fire starts, and even further accelerate growth.”
Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston added they’re anticipating the number of new starts to increase this week.
“The BC Wildfire Service, as you would expect, is mobilizing resources to be ready to respond.”
Ralston also took the time to praise the BC Wildfire Service for their successful initial attacks, using Saturday’s fire in Valemount as an example.
“The local fire department jumped into action, BC Wildfire Service was able to assist them with crews, tankers and skimmers,” Ralston said.
“Due to quick action on the ground and in the air, the fire was considered as being held, that is contained, within 24 hours, avoiding a potentially dangerous situation.”
Ralston said, as of this morning, there are 415 wildfires burning in the province, 52 of them new starts in the last 24 hours.
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