Prince George’s wildfire season began with drier-than-normal conditions, but as summer continues, the region is seeing fewer wildfires than normal.
Periodic rain helped to keep the number of ignitions low in April, May and the first half of June says the Prince George Fire Centre.
In April, fires spread quickly through valley bottoms where light fuels, such as grasses, dried out quickly due to dry winds and low humidity,
These fires were successfully contained to a small size due to actions of response crews and a high level of underlying moisture content from snowmelt, periodic rain and freshet.
“Our fire season across the province as well as the Prince George Fire Centre is lower than it has been in previous years,” said Rachelle Winsor, Information Officer with the Prince George Fire Centre.
Winsor says there have been 42 fires in the region since the beginning of April, compared to 89 the previous year.
“We have had quite a wet May and June, although we did start off with drier-than-normal conditions in April, (…) also we had those prohibitions go in to place on April 17, and we believe that has also helped minimize the number of wildfires we have had this year.”
If rainfall is received periodically throughout the spring and into June, larger fuels, requiring longer drying periods, are less likely to ignite limiting fires to mostly fine fuels.
“B.C. remains in a weather pattern that is producing periodic rainfall and, therefore, limited fire starts can be expected. However, the remainder of the wildfire season in B.C. will be highly dependent on local weather patterns, length of drying periods and wind events,” said Winsor.