How much rain would it take to put a serious dent in B.C.’s wildfires?

Aug 23, 2018 | 2:46 PM

KAMLOOPS —  The Kamloops Fire Centre is welcoming the possibility of showers over the coming days.

Environment Canada says there is a 40 per cent chance of showers today and Sunday and a 60 per cent chance on Monday.

“So, we do have a cold front that is coming in today and with that, it will bring cooler temperatures,” says Fire Information Officer Marla Catherall. “They are expected to range between 24 to 28 degrees, so quite a bit cooler than what we’ve been experiencing lately. It definitely does benefit us with firefighting efforts and hopefully we will get some rain.”

However, she says it would take a significant amount of the wet stuff to put a serious dent in the wildfires currently burning in the Kamloops Fire Centre.

“When it comes to precipitation, usually if it’s .5 millimetres or less it tends to be intercepted by the forest canopy; so, it prevents it from reaching the fuels on the forest floor,” says Catherall.

“It takes a minimum of 2.9 millimetres of rain to have any impact and 25 millimetres or more to begin to have some significant impact. So, it does take quite a bit, however even just a little bit of rain is welcome.”

Currently, she says there are 99 wildfires burning in the Kamloops Fire Centre, including 10 fires of note, though none are located close to Kamloops.

The fire danger rating is mainly ‘high’ throughout the region with the exception of ‘extreme’ ratings in places like Princeton and Salmon Arm.