It was a quiet BC Day long weekend for the Prince George Centre this year.
“We had 10 new fire starts over the long weekend, mainly in the Robson Valley Prince George area,” says Fire Information Officer Amanda Reynolds. “All but one were caused by lightning and they are all either out or under control at this point.”
The 10th fire is being considered suspicious. Reynolds says it was definitely human-caused as there was no lightning in the area.
“Lucky for us, this weekend we had no abandoned camp fire starts. South-East fire centre had 30 abandoned camp fires. We’re really happy with the public for making sure that, if they are having a fire, they’re extinguishing it completely which allows us to use our resources on lightning caused fires.”
There have been far fewer fires in the Prince George Fire Centre so far in 2016. As of August 2, 208 fires have been reported. In 2015, that number was 319.
But we’re not out of the hot zone yet, says Reynolds.
“Most of the fire centre is in moderate to high fire danger. We are expecting some rain this weekend but the rest of August we don’t know for sure yet. We had some nice warm weather [in] the lead up into the long weekend and with the days being so long and it being so warm, it doesn’t take long for those first few layers to dry out.”
If you’re planning a late summer camping trip, make sure you extinguish your camp fires completely. Reynolds says those with off-road vehicles should be careful in areas with long, dry grass and other tinder-type materials.
“We really appreciate the public’s help this fire season,” she says.
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