B.C. is requesting 180 out-of-province wildfire firefighters among other additional resources as it prepares for a potentially worsening situation in the coming weeks and months.
Cooler temperatures in May and June have so far offered the province a relatively tame wildfire season, Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Minister Bowinn Ma said Thursday (July 11). But, she added, temperatures are rising across B.C. and, combined with ongoing drought conditions, could spell trouble going forward.
“We are forecasting and anticipating the potential for a drastically accelerated situation here.”
Cliff Chapman, the director of provincial operations with BC Wildfire Service, said they have enough resources right now to tackle the province's blazes without outside help, but said they will likely need extra boots on the ground soon. This is both to provide support if wildfires suddenly surge and to ensure BC Wildfire's 2,000-person team is able to take breaks when needed.
“We need to ensure we have adequate resourcing for today but also for the next two months," Chapman said.
The service has put out a request for 180 out-of-province wildfire fighters, as well as several incident management teams, fire behaviour specialists and firefighting aircrafts.
Ma noted that it can take some time for a request to go through and to get crews from other provinces or countries into B.C., so doing it proactively is important.
Current situation
Across the province, 151 wildfires are actively burning as of Thursday midday. The vast majority of those are focused in the northeast and northern Interior, with 112 fires burning in the Prince George Fire Centre and another 26 in the Cariboo Fire Centre.
Two regions are currently under evacuation order.
Fort Nelson First Nation told the residents of the Kahntah Reserve to leave immediately in an order issued on July 9, declaring a local state of emergency the same day. The region has been threatened by various wildfires since the Parker Lake blaze began back in May.
Part of the District of Wells, located near Quesnel, is also under evacuation order as of July 10, due to the out-of-control Cornish Mountain Wildfire. A broader area of the district, including around 200 people, is further under an evacuation alert.
And, the Peace River Regional District issued an evacuation alert on July 10 for Electoral Area D, south of Dawson Creek.
Since April 1, wildfires have together burned 603,899 hectares across the province. The majority of those (55 per cent) are believed to have been started by humans. Another 38 per cent were started by lightning, while the cause of the other seven per cent remains unknown.
Campfire ban set to begin
Earlier in the week, the province announced it would be implementing a B.C.-wide campfire ban. That comes into effect at noon on Friday (July 12).
