Of the over 400 active wildfires nationwide, 82 are currently burning in BC in what has been the worst start to the fire season in decades.
Wildfires have already burned nearly 460,000 hectares provincewide, compared to just 44,000 by that point over the past six years combined.
That comes in part thanks to drought conditions prompted by the hottest May in the province’s history, and its fastest spring snowmelt to date.
More than 85 percent of this year’s snowpack has already melted, leaving many fire fuels usually covered by snow exposed to the elements.
With a lack of rain in the June forecast, the Wildfire Service warns that those fuels will become drier and easier to burn when lightning picks up.
Lightning sparks roughly 60 percent of wildfires in BC each year, but doesn’t usually begin to peak until July and August.
As a result of that, and hotter than usual temperatures forecast across BC for June, the Wildfire Service isn’t expecting things to ease up soon.
Fire Danger ratings across the province are also elevated, with the rating set to high along the North Coast, and extreme in the Nechako.
Category 2 and 3 open burns are banned across BC, with campfires banned in the Prince George Fire Centre, and the Nechako Fire Zone in the Northwest Fire Centre.
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