The aftermath of Wednesday’s thunderstorm in Prince George is being felt as over 40 new fires began in the local fire centre.
The ironic thing is that they all took place at around the same time.
“The majority of these fires were in the VanJam, Mackenzie, and south of Prince George and all of these fires started in the afternoon at around 2 o’clock yesterday with all of these fires sparked by lightning and are burning in the southern portions of the fire centre,” says Amanda Reynolds, Fire Information Officer.
The recent storm that swept through the Prince George area is being deemed as a glass-half-full, glass-half-empty scenario where on one hand it was nice to get the rain but on the other hand, not every part of the fire centre received the same volume of rain or got no rain at all.
“A lot of the lightning too we received was dry, so it didn’t come with any precipitation but in Prince George, we got a massive downpour late last night but in some areas including some that did get some of the fires didn’t get any rain. It is frustrating but a great relief to get the rain but it would have been nice had it been more widespread.”
#SummerStorm ⚡️⛈ | #CityOfPG #BCWeather #BCStorm pic.twitter.com/1MlNtAqaaS
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) June 21, 2018
The largest fire burning right now is the Kloch Lake Fire near Fort Saint James, which is 900 hectares in size.
“The new fires that we’ve had have been assessed and prioritized and many of them are in remote areas where it is hard to access by ground, firefighting crews and air tankers along with helicopters responded to multiple fires yesterday and will continue with fire suppression today.”
More fires could be on the horizon if a similar system cuts through the area.
A cooling pattern is expected for the local fire centre with more rain in the forecast.