There are 140 wildfires burning across the province according to the BC Wildfire Service, with nine new ones starting up on Friday.
Since April 1st, the beginning of the wildfire season, Fire Information Officer Ryan Turcotte says a total of 975 blazes have destroyed more than 651,000 hectares.
“This is the second highest number of hectares burned in a fire season since 1950, with 1958, of course, being the all-time highest; 855,000 hectares of land had been burned in that fire season.”
.@BCGovFireInfo: 2nd highest number of fires burning since 1950; costing $277.7M in suppression efforts
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) August 12, 2017
#EMBC: 38 evacuation ORDERs, 6,402 ppl have been displaced; 41 evacuation ALERTs are affecting 27,000 ppl; asking everyone to respect these
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) August 12, 2017
He adds the weather forecast for the rest of the weekend, and well into next week, is not predicted to co-operate with the more than 3,700 crews, staff, and personnel fighting the current situation.
“We’re expecting the weather to bring gustier winds and a potential risk for lightning. We are also expecting to see a drying trend start as the precipitation moves over into Alberta, although we will still see cooler temperatures coming in.”
.@CanadianForces to provide more assistance for #BC wildfires: https://t.co/V0apmXXpQO #BCWildfire
— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) August 12, 2017
The unpredictable weather has forced the province to ask for more military assistance this weekend in transporting firefighters to-and-from locations, as well as to help in putting out hot spots.
The BC Wildfire Service continues to boast its top priorities of getting residents on evacuation to safety as smoothly as possible, and keeping the highways open.
Post-apocalyptic skies outside the newsroom this PM; some light rain falling, but still smells like your avg. campfire | #CityOfPG @mypgnow pic.twitter.com/pM4CXPe2RQ
— Kyle Balzer (@KyleBalzer) August 12, 2017
.@BCGovFireInfo: Be careful, report fire or open-burning violation at *5555 as soon as possible
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) August 12, 2017
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