Only June will tell

There have been 30 wildfire so far this year in the Kamloops Fire Centre, and all of them have been human caused.

While that number might seem high, Wildfire Management information officer Kelsey Winter, says the region has had less fires so far this year in comparison to the same time in 2014.

“We are also below our 10 year average, but in terms of hectares burned we have had more burnt this year so far compared to last year,” she says of the Kamloops Fire Region.

Conditions in forested areas are tinder dry, however, it’s still too early in the season to forecast what will happen this summer according to Winter.

“A lot of the fire activity we see in July and August is really dependent on the rains we get in June, so we will wait for that month, see how much the precipitation levels are; before we really determine what the fire season will be like.”

Currently the fire danger rating in the Kamloops Fire Centre is moderate to high and there are significant areas of extreme. In order to mitigate much of the issues surrounding fire danger, a prohibition is going into place that will only allow for campfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre, as of May 15 at noon (half a metre wide by half a metre tall).

“The big thing for us right now,” says Winters, “is we really start to see lightening caused fires this time of year, so that means more naturally occurring wildfires.”

As for local residents, it’s time to be FireSmart about protecting their property says Rick Euper with the Kelowna Fire Department.

“We’ve had quite a dry, hot spring and what the predicted forecast is into the summer is going to be hotter than normal. So what we want to do is make sure people are safe, especially in their backyards.”

Euper says, neighbours should get together and reduce the hazards of wildfire by making their property FireSmart.

There are three priority zones around a home:

• Priority One (10 metres): house and landscaping fuel modification; remove flammables, Junipers, Cedars and other tinder that could ignite
   
• Priority Two (30 metres): fuel modification; reduce surface vegetation, thin evergreen tress, prune ladder fuels
   
• Priority Three (100 metres): wild-land fuel modification; thin forest vegetation, tree crowns spaced so they do not touch