How much does rain help?

Photo: BC Wildfire Service

Rain has allowed firefighters better access to fires, but large wildfires will continue to burn until the first snowfall.

Ryan Turcot, fire information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said the weather over the past couple of days has been co-operating with firefighting efforts more than it has been all year.

“Fire season is not over yet but we have started to see cooler temperatures, some degree of precipitation in the Cariboo Region so we are achieving better progress in some of these fires,” he said.

One such example is the Elephant Hill wildfire which has now been 60 per cent contained.

“With some of these larger fires, quite frankly, they are going to still be burning to some extent until snow hits the ground,” said Turcot.

As the weather turns to more fall conditions, fire danger will lessen across B.C.

“We see that the potential for more new fires starting will drop and the potential for those new fires to behave aggressively will drop,” he said.

Turcot said the BC Wildfire Service is expecting more showers after Thursday to move in a southwesterly direction which will give some relief to fires burning in the Southeast Fire Centre area.

“We don’t want the public to become complacent yet, there is still a very real fire danger out there," Turcot said.  "Yes, we are starting to see more rain and cooler conditions but there are still campfire bans in place across many places in the province and they are in place for a reason.”