(Image Credit: CFJC News)

By Sydney Chisholm

wildfire situation

Wildfire situation changing with the wind

Aug 17, 2023 | 5:02 PM

KAMLOOPS– Winds are expected to change, possibly resulting in an even worse wildfire situation for the province.

Earlier today, the provincial officials in charge of emergency management as well as B.C. Wildfire Service (BCWS) held a conference providing an update on the current wildfire situation, highlighting an incoming storm expected to push emergency response efforts to their limits.

“This weather event has the potential to be the most challenging 24-48 hours of the summer from a fire perspective,” Cliff Chapman, Director of Wildfire Operations for BCWS, said Thursday.

According to BCWS, the province has been sitting under a high-pressure ridge for the last few days, and while this ridge has created hot and dry weather all over British Columbia. It has also meant less wind, reducing the spread of wildfires. That could all change in the coming days.

“We will see what we refer to in bc as a cold front which is a cold air mass pushing up against the hot air mass which we have been living under for the last couple of days,” Chapman said.

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“When those two things happen, it creates significant and sustained winds,”

As a result, BCWS is expecting the direction of the wind to change

“What used to be the flank or the base of the fire will become the head of the fire, challenging all of the efforts that we have put in over the last number of weeks,” Chapman explained.

To help offset the new fire starts expected, BCWS has requested additional resources that are planned to arrive Friday and into next week.

B.C. residents are urged to create an evacuation plan for their homes and have their go bags packed.

“We recognize that across the province at times people have not adhered to evacuation orders. I want to stress, now is not the time to not adhere to evacuation orders and alerts,” he said.

“The weather is going to be erratic and significant.”