'Significant and extreme' wildfire risk to northern B.C. likely to spread south, officials warn
CBC
British Columbia wildfire officials say the intense and early wildfire onset is posing a "significant and extreme fire" risk in the north that will likely intensify across the south of the province in the coming days.
Starting Thursday, a provincewide open-burning ban will begin, and a campfire ban will apply to the Prince George Fire Region, the B.C. Wildfire Service announced Tuesday.
B.C.'s "core fire season" has started months earlier than usual in some parts of the province, said Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations for the B.C. Wildfire Service in a Tuesday news conference in Kamloops.
"We are going to see challenging conditions today and in the coming days," said Chapman. "We really can't afford to have human-caused fires with lightning coming in."
WATCH | CBC news report shows scope of Stoddart Creek wildfire:
More than 60 active wildfires are burning across the province, including the Stoddart Creek and Red Creek fires near Fort St. John which are considered out of control.
Those wildfires have already driven 1,800 people from their homes and placed an additional 20,000 people on evacuation alerts in the region.
At least 50,000 hectares are burning in the northeast of the province alone, approximately five times the 10-year average for this time of year, Chapman said.
As the high-pressure ridge moves and pushes higher temperatures further south, the risk will increase across the southwest coast and in the southeast.
"I wouldn't be surprised if alerts and orders shift out of the north and into the rest of the province," said Chapman.
Forests Minister Bruce Ralston recognized the challenges of evacuation orders and urged British Columbians to follow the fire bans and to be careful on the upcoming May long weekend.
"Being asked to leave your home or living day-to-day, seeing the smoke and flames and knowing that an order could come at any time is incredibly difficult," said Forests Minister Bruce Ralston from Kamloops. "Wildfires have taken on a new seriousness in the minds of everyone in British Columbia."
The early appearance of wildfires in B.C. and Alberta is driven by a high-pressure ridge that has shattered heat records in nearly 40 communities on Sunday and Monday.
And while the forecast calls for temperatures to ease a bit and bring more moderate temperatures, the change could increase the risk of lighting.
The Rachel Notley government's consumer carbon tax wound up becoming a weapon the UCP wielded to drum the Alberta NDP out of office. But that levy-and-repayment program, and the wide-ranging "climate leadership plan" around it, also stood as the NDP's boldest, provincial-reputation-altering move in their single-term tenure.