With hot and dry weather conditions seen across the entire province over the past week, and no reprieve in the forecast, wildfire crews are focusing on “beefing up” their initial attack on new fire starts.
During Thursday morning's press conference, director of wildfire operations Cliff Chapman said any new fire start in the province has the potential to spread rapidly, given the current conditions.
“The whole province is experiencing fairly significant weather ... we don't anticipate any rain anywhere else in B.C. for the next 10 days, “ Chapman said.
“Every fire has the potential to be a concern if we don't get on it right away and so we continue to surge aggressive initial attack to any new start, as the ones we saw in the Cariboo yesterday and the one that we saw in Peachland yesterday. We are really trying to beef up our initial attack to ensure that those fires can be put out and they don't stay on the books as we continue to progress through July and August.
“Any new start has the potential to be a challenge for our province and we need to get on them quick and get them out fast.”
Air tankers, helicopters and upwards of 34 firefighters have responded to the 2.2-hectare fire burning west of Peachland, after it was discovered Wednesday afternoon.
Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness Bowinn Ma said they've begun making requests for additional out-of-province firefighting resources, including upwards of 180 more firefighters along with more aircraft, in anticipation of worsening fire conditions.
“With the current heat event and forecasted conditions, as well as the persistent underlying drought conditions that we see in many parts of the province, it is possible, and we are preparing for the possibility, that wildfire starts will increase in an accelerated manner from this day forward,” Ma said.
“While we are currently in a comfortable and confident position with our wildfire resources, we do want to be prepared. So by being proactive in our request for additional resources, we can ensure that that lag that it often takes for additional resources to come in from out of province doesn't impact our ability to protect communities and protect British Columbians.”
While it's been a somewhat cool and wet spring in the south of B.C., the north of the province has been in the thick of wildfire season for months already.
“[The request for more resources] is also to ensure that we are prepared so we do not have to take all of our resources out of the north if we start to see fires in the Central and south of British Columbia, so we can continue to respond to the northeast and not lose the amazing work that's been accomplished up there,” Chapman said.
“We need to ensure we have adequate resourcing for today but also for the next two months, and so we're asking early.”
There are currently 152 active wildfires burning in the province, 35 of which were discovered in the past 24 hours.
