Cost of fighting wildfires tops $450M in B.C.

KAMLOOPS — The wildfire threat in B.C. continues to diminish due to the unseasonably cool temperatures province-wide, though costs continue to climb.

“Suffice to say, we’ve had a pretty dramatic shift in the weather over the last week,” says Chief Fire Information Kevin Skrepnek with the BC Wildfire Service. “That’s definitely led to a pretty major decrease in fire activity right across the province. We still do have a little more than 400 fires active right now but given how cool it is, given that we’ve had a fair bit of rain as well, these fires aren’t really actively burning.”

Despite the progress, Skrepnek says roughly 2,000 wildfire personnel continue to work to get the fires completely out, though he expects a lot of the out-of-province personnel will be released in the near future.

The pricetag associated with battling the blazes is getting steeper by the day though, as the cost has now topped $450 million. That’s still well shy of last year’s $570 million.