The Prince George Fire Centre has noted a decrease in man-made fires this spring, citing physical distancing as a factor.
According to the Centre, British Columbia’s wildfire season normally starts with an uptick in human-caused wildfires in spring, and then it is contingent on weather.
“It can really be dependant on weather and human activity and what’s going on outside of that,” said PG Fire Centre spokesperson Gagan Lidhran.
“I think this year we have seen a reduction because of the Covid-19 pandemic because people are staying home more.”
Gagan points out that Prince George has been dealing with relatively mild weather and the recent snowmelt as well.
“That’s a generalization of how it usually goes. Weather is so variable, we just basically had the snowmelt, the weather is kind of cloudy right now. It just takes a couple of dry spells, for things to kick up again though.”
As for wildfires in the vicinity of the city, Lidhran says at the moment there’s only one, located in the Eaglet Lake area.
“Basically, the fire started yesterday (Saturday) and it was on private property. Technically speaking it’s the local fire department’s jurisdiction. However, we received the initial phone report first so we did have a crew go out and respond,” explained Lidhran.
“It was just a pile of logs that were burning right off of Unwin road between one of the local schools there. It’s currently .5 hectares and believed to be human-caused. The current status is ‘being-held’ but we anticipate it should be going out soon,”
The province has also prohibited category two, three, and resource open management fires as of April 16, as well as fireworks, sky lanterns and burn barrels.
However, campfires are still allowed for the time being.