The province isn鈥檛 likely to get a reprieve from the wildfires ravaging the B.C. interior any time soon, according to the BC Wildfire Service.
Chief information officer Kevin Skrepnek said that they are expecting more hot weather, lightning and strong winds. Specialist staff from Alberta are on their way to offer expertise gleaned from last year鈥檚 Fort Mac fire.
People refusing to evacuate happen with every fire, Anaham community in Chilcotin one of them says
鈥� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
Skrepnek said that fighting the 599 fires across B.C. this season has cost the province $53.5 million. The province currently has 200 helicopters and 40 planes, mostly on short term contracts.
While fire activity has ramped up in the past few weeks, Skrepnek said, 2017 is not an unusual intense fire season. At this time in 2016, there had been 496 fires and 93,000 hectares burned. The 10-year average for July 11 sits at 48,000 hectares.
鈥淒iscarded cigarettes, abandoned campfires, irresponsible use of off-road vehicles鈥� are the main causes of human-caused fires, Skrepnek said.
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496 this time last year, 600 so far this year, 2016 almost twice area burned due to early Peace Country fires
鈥� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
According to BC Emergency Management deputy minister Robert Turner, there are currently 14,365 evacuees across B.C. Several evacuation orders and alerts have been issued in the past few days; most notably in 100 Mile House and Williams Lake.
鈥淭hat is a rough estimate,鈥� said Turner. 鈥淢ost of those who have evacuated have not registered.鈥�
All evacuees are asked to register either online or by phone at 1-800-863-6582 with . Earlier technical challenges with the system have been fixed, Turner added.
鈥淭hat was very much a proactive step because of some of the weather we are expecting tomorrow鈥� we have fires now in many directions around Williams Lake,鈥� said Skrepnek. Evacuees from Williams Lake should head towards Prince George.
There are Canadian Forces aircraft in place if any air evacuation is necessary, Turner said.
Williams Lake alert pro-active due to weather expected Wednesday, people would head north if order comes
鈥� Tom Fletcher (@tomfletcherbc)
The Prince George fire centre is dealing with its own issues 鈥� the Sutherland Road fire is at 1,800 hectares, the Grizzly Lake fire is 215 hectares and Tatelkuz Lake fire is over 1,000 hectares.
鈥淭he 台湾MM裸聊室 fire centre is not seeing the same level of activity as we are in the Cariboo fire centre,鈥� said Skrepnek, 鈥渂ut we are making sure we have the equipment.鈥�
Turner said that the province has an advanced planning unit that is looking 60 days ahead.
The Northwest fire centre has remained quiet with only eight of the over 200 fires burning across the province currently.
Major fires in B.C.:
- Ashcroft fire 鈥� 7,300 ha
- Princeton 鈥� 2,700 ha
- Gustafsen fire 鈥� 5,000 ha
- Wildwood fire 鈥� 2,500 ha
- 100 Mile fire 鈥� 2,600 ha
- Chilcotin fires 鈥� 10,000 ha
- Little Fort east fires 鈥� 897 ha
- Green Mountain fire (previously Dragon Mountain fire) 鈥� 1,500 ha
- Precipice Creek fire 鈥� 800 ha
More to come.
