Wildfire activity within the Prince George area remains down.
The Prince George Fire Centre has seen 43 fires to date for a total of 203 hectares burned so far in 2020.
However, Fire Information Officer, Rachelle Winsor told MyPGNow.com there is concern activity could pick up heading into the August long weekend.
“After a weekend of warm weather, our first one in forever, we didn’t have that much precipitation but the fire danger rating has actually gone up for several areas in our centre. So it’s actually gone up to moderate in Vanderhoof and Fort Nelson, and there is pockets of high danger in the Dawson Creek and Fort St John zones.”
“Again, if we continue into the August long weekend with more 30 degrees weather and lightning fire starts are a very real possibility in our centre here.”
Up until the weekend, Mother Nature kept conditions damp.
“We had a fair amount of precipitation over June and July, which really lowered our index and all of that moisture has since sunk in and made it really hard for fires to start.”
“We also had the burn restrictions in place during April and May and that was due to COVID just because it was a new problem we were all faced with and we had to get our protocols in place and those have been rescinded across the province,” added Winsor.
Last year, we saw 115 fires and over 75-hundred hectares burned.
In BC, 218 wildfires have been reported burning over 700 hectares.
Thirty-six blazes were reported this month with the majority of them taking place in the southern half of the province.