The BC Wildfire Service says lightning strikes have caused nearly 200 fires to spark in the last week across the province.
As of Monday morning, about 400 fires are burning, and the service says it’s expecting winds to pick up in the next few days which could cause more fire activity.
About 40 per cent of fires burning are classified as “out of control,” with six considered wildfires of note.
The new starts come as the Lower Mainland and much of southern B.C. is set to see some cooler weather this week.
1130 NewsRadio meteorologist Carl Lam says the next few days are going to be below the seasonal daily average.
Lam explains only one day this week will reach the seasonal daily average of 22 degrees.
“It is going to feel very different this week across Metro Vancouver because it is going to be noticeably cooler,” he said Monday.
Lam says with the new fires, there’s wildfire smoke up in the atmosphere too.
“But with all the cloud coverage, it’s going to be hard to tell it’s there because the clouds are already going to make it look great enough out there,” Lam explained.
“But as we go into Tuesday and Wednesday, it still is an issue as it just kind of hangs around, so we’ll be keeping an eye on that.”
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