The BC Wildfire Service says drought conditions are affecting northern British Columbia, just outside of Fort Nelson.
The North Peace Complex is affected by deep burns in tree roots, logs, and other organic material beneath the forest floor.
Normally, groundwater keeps organic material from burning, but BC Wildfire Service workers say, this year has been problematic.
“We’re seeing a lot of tree failure and a lot of defects in the trees which is causing the fire to get inside the trees,” Ian Berglund, safety officer for Fort Nelson said.
Danger Tree specialist Cole St. Jean explains when roots are dried out, it allows the fire to burn deep in the ground.
“Because of the drought conditions, all species, the roots are burning off and we’re failures in large amounts in large areas,” he said. “Hazards must be identified, assessed and then risk managed…It takes a long time for all the hazards to be mitigated.”
Fire Behaviour Analyst, Eric Kopetski says, they are in a multi-year drought, which is making trouble for wildfire fighters.
“This is causing us a lot more time to fully extinguish the fire and exposing our crews to more risk from trees whose roots are burnt out and are at risk of falling,” he said.
After sixteen days of fighting the Parker Lake wildfire, on May 26th, the fire was tamed and is now being held by the BC Wildfire Service.