At least five new wildfires were ignited by lightning in British Columbia since Friday, and combined with roughly a dozen other new blazes, the total number burning across the province now stands at more than 150.
The B.C. Wildfire Service posted on social media Saturday detailing how the blazes were sparked by lightning and discovered in the Lillooet Fire Zone, warning more fires may pop up due to hot weather and wind.
It said crews are responding to the fires with the help of air support, adding that no structures are at risk from any of the new fires in the zone, which include one blaze described as a “single tree burning.”
As of Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. PT, the wildfire service says 10 fires started within the last day. More than 77 per cent of active fires in B.C. were suspected to have been caused by lightning.
Late yesterday and overnight in the Lillooet Fire Zone, lightning ignited five new wildfires. As the day goes on and temperatures and wind speeds increase, more wildfires may be detected. Increased temperatures and winds will also affect fire behaviour. <a href=”https://t.co/4Vaq6Uyayx”>pic.twitter.com/4Vaq6Uyayx</a>
—@BCGovFireInfo
A campfire ban in B.C. came into effect Friday, which covers the entire province other than Haida Gwaii.
A brush fire caused by youths setting off fireworks at a popular park in Nanaimo, B.C., the day the ban took effect has the city’s mayor on edge about the province’s vulnerability to wildfires as the season heats up.
Leonard Krog said Saturday that a group of young people gathered at Piper’s Lagoon Park caused the blaze, which he said should be a “wake-up call” to citizens to pay attention to fire bans.
And although his city has been spared so far, unlike communities in the B.C. Interior, he says “our turn will no doubt come.”
Video shared to CBC News shows the brush fire at Pipers Lagoon Park, which the Nanaimo Fire Service believe was caused by youth setting off fireworks on Friday.
Krog said “some idiots” set off fireworks in the park and the brush fire damaged undergrowth in a “very sensitive ecological area.”
He said setting off fireworks, which can’t be bought without a licence in Nanaimo, on the day the provincial fire ban came into effect “is the height of stupidity and arrogance.”
“I am frankly, as mayor, disgusted that anybody of any age would think it appropriate, for whatever reason, to be that stupid in the middle of a hot, dry summer,” he said.
Krog said Piper’s Lagoon Park is a popular area and visiting the site of the blaze Saturday morning was “very upsetting.”
“These bans and regulations aren’t in place just because we love banning and regulating things. They’re in place to protect public assets and unique public assets,” he said.
“This may be the start of, you know, two or three months of hot, dry weather, and the fire at Piper’s points out how quickly serious consequences can flow from a few acts of stupidity.”
The B.C. government is warning the province is heading into a potentially severe wildfire season, as a heat wave has been drying out forest fuels. Wildfire danger levels are rising in many parts of the province. And as Tom Popyk reports, a surge in new fires is now threatening at least one Interior community.