The Prince George Fire Centre saw eleven new starts over the May long weekend.
Fire Information Officer, Sharon Nickle told Vista Radio none of them were too troublesome, crews also made lots of progress on some fires of note.
“Three of those have already been called out and an additional four are out of control at this time. We also saw a large number of fires change in status over the weekend – notably in the north peace complex where Boundary Lake and Cameron River are now classified as under control.”
“We also saw the Milligan Lake fire in the Vanderhoof area change status to being held and we are able to downgrade some of the wildfires of note list and expect by the end of the day we will have two that being Stoddart Creek and Donnie Creek.”
Nickle adds out of the 82 wildfires spread across BC, 49 of which are located in the Prince George Fire Centre.
Our region has three wildfires of note.
The Stoddart Creek (29,327 hectares) and Red Creek (2,947 hectares) blazes are being held while the Donnie Creek (134,769 hectares) wildfire is classified as out of control.
Nickle noted areas like the Peace Region which are seeing a cluster of blazes are suffering from drought-like conditions.
“Areas impacted by wildfire may have loose soil, ashpits and many might have unstable root systems and that might make them more susceptible to weather, rain, and wind. In many regions of the north we are also experiencing extreme drought conditions, which can lead to flash flooding when there is extreme rainfall.”
However, the rain from the weekend and cooler temperatures did assist crews with their overall suppression efforts.
“Fires really like those dry hot fuels and hot dry weather. So, when there is rain or cooler weather not only do the available fuels on the landscape receive water and then start to retain moisture but the humidity levels stay up through the day and overnight,” added Nickle.
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