British Columbia’s wildfire season is now the fourth-worst on record in terms of hectares burned.
According to BC Wildfire Service, 1,074 wildfires have started since April 1, with 878,553 hectares burned.
In 2023, wildfires destroyed 2,842,275 hectares across the province.
The 2018 fire season destroyed 1,354,284 hectares while the 2017 season saw 1,216,053 hectares burned.
Fire damage in British Columbia came to 869,300 hectares in 2021.
The wildfire season in British Columbia runs from April 1 to March 31, and in previous years, August has had significant fire activity.
In 2017, the province declared a state of emergency from July 7 to Sept. 15. While many of the fires that year started in July, a second wave of fire activity happened in August.
In 2018, a provincial state of emergency was announced on Aug. 15, and lasted for 23 days.
This year, the majority of fire activity has been in the Prince George Fire Centre area, covering the northeastern part of the province. To date, 730,010 hectares have burned there.
Of the wildfires in British Columbia this year, 67 per cent have been caused by lightning and 30 per cent have been human-caused. The cause of the remainder is undetermined.
