B.C. Wildfire Service officials said they are seeing extreme fire growth and behaviour in parts of the province.
“The conditions are so explosive right now,” Cliff Chapman, the director of provincial operations for the B.C. Wildfire Service, said.
“The conditions are such, we’ve never seen fuel dryness the way we are seeing it right now. And then when you put 85- to 100-km winds on top of that, it is an explosive and extremely dangerous situation in B.C., and we saw that play out on the Bradley Creek fire.”
That wildfire, burning west of Vernon, is believed to have destroyed up to 230 homes and is measured at 2, 852 hectares.
It was first discovered on Friday, but exploded in growth on Saturday.
“I think what we are learning and what we’ve been learning over the last five to seven years is that sometimes on some days, like on Saturday’s cold front passage, there is never enough resources to try to combat that fire,” Chapman added.
“If we are not on every square inch of this province, then we cannot stop every single fire that could potentially start.”
As of Tuesday morning, 120 wildfires are burning in B.C., with 15 started in the last 24 hours.
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“Throughout British Columbia, we have over 1,000 personnel directly engaged in the fight in our wildfire response efforts,” Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar said at an update on Tuesday.
“This includes firefighters deployed in coordination with the B.C. Wildfire Service, working right now to protect homes and protect communities. They’re also joined by local fire departments assisting with structural protection and defence.”
Firefighters from Mexico arrived on Monday afternoon and Parmar said more are coming from Mexico and Australia this week.
“Despite making good progress on many fires, we are still in the midst of a very challenging wildfire season here in British Columbia,” he added.
“Our top priority remains protecting people and communities. August and September are often the most active period for wildfire in our province. We know the B.C. Wildfire Service almost certainly has several weeks of high-intensity work left before the wildfire season has settled.”
As of 9 a.m. on Tuesday, there are 37 evacuation orders in place, impacting approximately 8,000 people and 7,300 properties, Kelly Greene, the Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness, said.
There are also 37 evacuation alerts impacting approximately 7,100 people and 3,800 properties.
Those under evacuation alert should be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.
“The orders and alerts over the past few days have been changing hourly,” Greene said.
“This reinforces just how important it is for everyone throughout the province to be prepared, even if you’re not under alert yet. Have a grab-and-go bag ready-packed for each member of your household, including your pets.”
Greene said evacuation orders are issued by local governments and First Nations as a last resort to protect lives and save communities.
“They’re based on the best information, evidence and decades of experience from emergency officials and wildfire experts,” she said.
“If you ignore an evacuation order and later need medical help or rescuing, it can put first responders in danger and take them off the important work protecting the community, or emergency responders might not be able to reach you at all if the conditions are too dangerous.”
Chapman warned that residents and officials need to be vigilant as the province enters a drying trend in the next few days when temperatures will be in the low-to-mid 30s and there is no rain in the forecast.
“We anticipate the timing of this to be late Thursday afternoon into the evening, and it will continue on Friday and into Saturday if it materializes,” he said.
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