The day BC caught fire

The summer of 2018 has just begun, and so far there have been 348 wildfires larger than 0.01 hectares in size. Of those, only one, at Comstock Lake in the Prince George Fire Centre region, is still considered a wildfire of note.

It was a very different situation this time last year. 

A series of widespread thunderstorms sparked more than 190  wildfires, many of which were in the Cariboo region.

“Many of these wildfires grew rapidly and displayed aggressive, dangerous fire behaviour,” said the BC Wildfire Service.

The summer of 2017 set numerous records:

•     The amount of land burned (over 1.2 million hectares)
•     The total cost of fire suppression (over $568 million)
•     The number of people displaced (roughly 65,000 evacuated)

A provincial state of emergency was declared on July 7 and lasted 70 days, until Sept. 15, the longest provincial state of emergency in B.C.’s history, and the first to be declared since 2003.

At the peak of fire season, more than 4,700 personnel were engaged in fighting wildfires across the province, including over 2,000 contract personnel from the forest industry and 1,200 from outside B.C.

RCMP now say 29 fires, stretching from 2014 to 2017 were the work of an arsonist or arsonists.

A Southeast District RCMP task force was established in May of this year to catch those responsible. It is working alongside the BC Wildfire Service and other agencies.

Anyone with information is asked to call the dedicated tips line at 1-855-685-8788.

Since April 1, 594 wildfires had burned an estimated 47,041 hectares of land, according to data from the BCWS. In an average fire season, there would have been about 420 fires and 26,800 hectares burned in the same time span.

* A previous version of this story said 255 wildfires had burned 1,625 hectares of land, which has been corrected.