Canada and B.C. facing ‘worst wildfire season in 100 years’: Eby

During the premiers’ annual conference in Winnipeg Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby says the province and Canada are facing the worst wildfire season in 100 years.

Eby says B.C. is already seeing drought levels that usually don’t creep in until the end of the summer, a claim supported by Minister of Emergency Management Bowinn Ma’s Monday statement — in which she explained that 17 of the province’s water basins were already at a level four out of five or higher on the drought level classification.

“We’re probably nearing $200 million fighting wildfires this year … just to give you a scale of the work we’re doing here,” Eby explained. “We expect this nationally to be the worst wildfire season in 100 years, and we don’t expect that British Columbia will be an exception to that rule given where we are right now.

“It’s a challenging time certainly for us in British Columbia … we do expect long days ahead.”

Tuesday saw evacuation orders and alerts expanded in several areas in B.C.’s northern regions as communities have been trying to keep residents safe while the BC Wildfire Service works against a growing total of fires.

The BC Wildfire Service says fire numbers have grown substantially due to a dramatic increase in lightning strikes.

“There was more than 10,000 lighting strikes across the province yesterday, with 7,000 of them in the Prince George Fire Centre,” said Sarah Budd, provincial information officer with the BC Wildfire Service.

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As of Tuesday afternoon, there are 314 total active fires in B.C. — 256 of which have been caused by lightning — and over 40 have ignited in the last 24 hours.

“Most wildfires in B.C. are started by lightning strikes. When lightning strikes an object, it can release enough heat to ignite a tree or other fuels. Although lightning-caused fires cannot be prevented, there are ways of predicting where they might start. The risk from natural fires can also be reduced with fuel management and prescribed burning,” reads an excerpt from the BC Wildfire Service’s website.

Outside of lightning, 20 active fires are believed to be human-caused, while 38 currently have unknown causes.

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The Donnie Creek Fire remains B.C.’s biggest blaze — estimated to be burning at just over 580,000 hectares — and is among those fires suspected to have been caused by lightning. According to the BC Wildfire Service, the fire is still spreading, and an “evacuation alert remains in effect through the Peace River Regional District.”

With files from Shawn Ayers and The Canadian Press