File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Sydney Chisholm

wildfire season

With 2023 wildfire season cooling down, burned area within Kamloops Fire Centre is twice the average

Oct 3, 2023 | 4:50 PM

KAMLOOPS – This past summer has been referred to as the province’s worst fire season and while the season isn’t technically over, the Kamloops Fire Centre reports seeing almost double the hectares burned this year compared to the ten-year average.

“We’ve definitely seen a lot of significant growth in the wildfires, especially contributed to the drought codes that we saw this year and those above-seasonal temperatures as well,” Shaylee Stearns, BC Wildfire Information Officer, told CFJC News.

So far this year, the Kamloops Fire Centre has seen 387 fires, resulting in 201,276 hectares burned. That’s nearly eight times the area scorched last year at this time, from fewer fires.

“[We saw] quite larger wildfires generally than we probably saw last year,” Stearns said. “And as you can see with that higher hectare number as well — and we’re not quite even done this season yet.”

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BCWS seasons run from April 1 to March 31 the following year, but the majority of fires start in the hot summer months. The ten-year average for the region at this point in time is 336 wildfires, burning 101,287 hectares.

“We’re still above that average, definitely in hectares burned, but also in the number of fires, not a significant drop there. But it’s almost doubled in the ten-year average compared to the hectares that burned,” she said. “You can look at that and see that we did see significant growth on a lot of our fires, especially due to certain weather patterns that did pass through the Kamloops Fire Center throughout the season.”

Currently, there are still 29 wildfires burning in the region.

“All of them are either in the ‘being held’ or ‘under control’ classification, so that shows the good work that crews have been putting in,” Stearns said, “and also can be contributed as the lower temperatures that we’re seeing in those higher relative humidities as well definitely saw an increase.”

Due to current conditions, the wildfire danger rating remains low.

Though campfire bans have been lifted in the region, BCWS wants to remind the public, Category Two and Three open fires are still prohibited.