The BC Wildfire Service has confirmed that the 2018 wildfire season is now the worst on record in BC’s history.
As of Wednesday afternoon, they’re reporting that 1,250,383 hectares of land have been burned across the province since April 1st, just edging out the 1,216,053 burnt hectares reported at this same time last year.
It’s a big and seemingly sudden increase from the 970,000 burnt hectares that were reported on Tuesday, but fire information officer Ryan Turcot says this isn’t an immediate cause for concern.
“The jump that we’re reporting is not necessarily indicative of aggressive fire growth, but rather because the BC Wildfire Service is now able to provide a more accurate assessment of the total hectares burned due to more favourable weather conditions and smoke clearing,” says Turcot.
Turcot noted that the 2018 fire season had a slower start than the one in 2017, but a combination of hot, dry conditions in late July and an uptick in lightning strikes in August have led to a sharp increase in fire activity across the province.
At this time, 534 wildfires are burning across the province, while a total of 2,011 have been reported since April 1st. Only 22 percent of these fires have been labelled as ‘human-caused,’ while the vast majority have been lightning-related. Last year, 1,148 fires were reported at this same time since the season began.
Turcot says the BC Wildfire Service is well-equipped to deal with these fires, and the recent extension of the Provincial State of Emergency will allow them to draw on additional help if need be.
“As of today, we have 4,732 personnel actively engaged right now across the province,” says Turcot. “Resourcing is something that we continue to monitor on a daily basis, and we continually look at options where we can be bringing in more resources.”
Across BC, 34 evacuation orders remain in place, affecting 3,200 people, while 53 evacuation alerts are affecting 21,800 people.2018: