B.C. officials will be providing an update on the current wildfire situation Wednesday morning, as the number of blazes continues to grow across the province.
There are currently around 430 active wildfires, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS). The vast majority of them are caused by lightning, and around 60 per cent of them are considered by the service to be out of control.
These fires have placed thousands of people under alert, while hundreds have had to evacuate.
A persistent heat wave throughout July has dried out forests in many parts of B.C., setting the stage for potentially extreme fire behaviour.
B.C. is seeing increasingly hotter, drier summers and fire seasons that start earlier and last longer than they did a decade ago, and Environment Canada expects wildfires to grow more intense and happen more often thanks to human-caused climate change.
On Wednesday, stormy weather is expected to continue in the north, and the Interior is forecast to keep seeing strong winds.
Despite the unstable conditions, progress has been made on some of the notable wildfires.
On Tuesday, the BCWS listed the River Valley wildfire in Williams Lake, B.C., as being held, which means crews don’t expect it to expand at this point. The city subsequently lifted its evacuation alert that afternoon.
There continues to be four wildfires of note, which are those that are “highly visible or pose a potential threat to public safety,” according to the BCWS. These are the Antler Creek, Shetland Creek, Aylwin Creek and Komonko Creek fires.
Brian Oates says he wants to provide some relief to stressed-out evacuees as they make their way through B.C., so he’s providing a free place to stay for more than 600 people at his Valemount RV park.
While B.C. deals with fires, it has also opened its doors to hundreds of wildfire evacuees fleeing Jasper, Alta., and the Jasper National Park Tuesday. A welcome centre was immediately set up in Valemount, B.C., a community of about 1,000 people, with residents offering space in homes and businesses to help evacuees looping back to Calgary or Grande Prairie.
The B.C. government warned that the province didn’t have the capacity to take in thousands of evacuees.
Government officials say at least 10,000 people were forced to evacuate from the mountain town of Jasper and an estimated 15,000 visitors in the national park were told to leave late Monday night as wildfire advanced toward the community.
B.C.’s Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma and Minister of Forests Bruce Ralston will be joined by other officials to provide an update at 11:30 a.m. PT.