B.C. weather causing pickup in wildfire activity

Between a lightning storm hitting the coastal region, and a heat wave persisting in the northern parts, the weather appears to be bringing new challenges to wildfire-fighting efforts in B.C.

In the Coastal Fire Centre, BC Wildfire Service information officer Kimberly Kelly says between 12 a.m. and 6 a.m. on Tuesday, there were 2,602 lightning strikes reported on Vancouver Island.

“This has contributed to approximately 18 new wildfires starting on Vancouver Island and the midcoast,” she told CityNews.

However, Kelly says rain has not accompanied the lightning on the island.

“This weather event has not brought a significant amount of precipitation to Vancouver Island specifically. The drought conditions that we see began in the fall and have continued to persist for nine months now,” she said.

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The largest fire on Vancouver Island is the Mount Con Reid blaze, burning out of control in Strathcona Provincial Park at 1,428 hectares as of Tuesday afternoon.

In B.C.’s northeast, the Prince George Fire Centre is dealing with an uptick in fire activity due to an unseasonable heat wave.

“The biggest thing that we’ve been noticing is our previous fires that have settled down a bit have been getting a fire activity increase again,” said fire information officer Pedro Roldan-Delgado.

He says the Donnie Creek wildfire — the largest wildfire in the province’s history — has been seeing higher fire activity on its southern sides. The fire that was first discovered in May was last measured at over 583,153 hectares as of Tuesday afternoon.

Northeastern parts of the province have been seeing daily temperatures hovering near 30 degrees, with Fort Nelson hitting a daytime record of 34 C on Monday.

In the Kamloops Fire Centre, the Adams Lake complex of fires continues to burn near Shuswap Lake at around 43,067 hectares as of Tuesday afternoon. The weather forecast in that area is calling for overcast conditions with rain until Thursday.

There are eight other wildfires of note burning in the Kamloops Fire Centre, including the McDougall Creek blaze which has prompted further evacuation alerts for West Kelowna.

In the Fraser Canyon, Highway 1 between Boston Bar and Lytton has reopened after a two-week-long closure due to a complex of fires burning in that area.