The storm that moved through yesterday has started some new blazes across the province.
BC Wildfire Service reports 141 new wildfires across B.C., most of which were due to lightning activity.
The southern third of the province saw the biggest uptick in new wildfire starts, with 33 new fires in the Coastal Fire Centre, 41 new fires in the Kamloops Fire Centre, and 60 new fires in the Southeast Fire Centre.
Provincially, there are currently 586 active wildfires burning at this time.
The 41 new starts in the Kamloops Fire Zone are mostly spot fires due to a quick response from fire crews. Many of the new starts were concentrated in the Penticton Zone, with 14 new wildfires.
Nicole Bonnett of the Kamloops Fire Centre says that the BC Wildfire Service did know the weather system was coming, and were able to prioritize initial attack.
They had crews ready to be deployed to the fires and be able to work on them while they were still small, says Bonnett. She says that 37 of the 41 starts are estimated to be spot-sized fires.
BC Wildfire Service says that they were kept quite busy, despite knowing what was potentially coming.
“There was quite heavy precipitation right in the very northern Wells Grey area of our fire centre, as well as in the Lillooet area,” Bonnett says. “Unfortunately, there was not much precipitation associated with the lightning down in the Penticton Fire Zone, so there was quite a bit of dry lightning.”
Due to the dry lightning the area experienced, she adds that it is possible that we will see some “holdover” fires in the days to come. Bonnett says that holdover fires take a few days to appear and be reported, but they are due to lightning and weather conditions.
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