Cooney Bay wildfire (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

WILDFIRE SEASON 2024

Dry conditions and heavy winds help kickstart B.C. Interior wildfire season

Apr 22, 2024 | 5:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — Wildfire season has seemingly begun across British Columbia. In the past seven days, there were 44 new fire starts in the province. In the past 24 hours, there were nine new fire starts. Of those, two are out, two are being held, one is out of control and five are under control, according to an update posted to the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) Dashboard.

One of those new fires from the weekend sparked with Kamloops city limits. Kamloops Fire Rescue (KFR) personnel, along with members of the BCWS and CN Rail employees joined forces to contain a fire in Cooney Bay on Saturday (April 20).

“The winds picked up, the temperature picked up and that was enough to get some embers going and start to spread,” said KFR Chief Ken Uzeloc. “We had crews there all through the night Saturday night, we had crews all through the day [Sunday] along with BC Wildfire, as well. [Monday] we had crews go out and take a look and we have a crew there right now actioning for the afternoon.”

The Cooney Bay fire was one of seven human-caused fires reported to the BCWS over the weekend. While human-caused does not equate to deliberate, it does show how tinder dry conditions have become this spring.

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“(The) fire danger rating throughout the Kamloops Fire Centre is low-to-moderate right now,” stated BCWS Fire Information Officer Shae Stearns. “We do have that lower danger rating but with those drought conditions, it still leaves those fuels quite susceptible to ignition. And with the wind we did see over the weekend, for a couple of the fires that we had, they were wind driven, so you did see that increased rate of spread coupled with that dry fuel and the wind.”

The fire is now under control, but Chief Uzeloc noted it’s an opportunity to again stress the importance of FireSmart practices after seeing how the embers travelled with the wind.

“It’s not the wildfire, it’s usually the embers — and the wind can take them a long distance. All it takes is that small couple of embers that lands in that small safe zone around your house and your whole house can be up. In this case, we want to remind people there are no campfires, cooking fires, outdoor fires, backyard fire involving wood (within the City of Kamloops),” said Uzeloc.

With the wildfire season now well underway, BCWS is asking residents to utilize its app, both for information on fires close to home but also for help reporting new starts.

“You can take a picture of what you are seeing on the landscape, and that gets sent right to our operations team, which really helps them when they are making decisions on what response to send to that fire based on the colour of the smoke, the geography, what they might be seeing. Those are really beneficial to include when reporting a wildfire,” said Stearns.

One wildfire from the past weekend remains out of control. The Burgess Creek wildfire, approximately 45 kilometres south of Quesnel, is currently burning 1,600 hectares and listed as out of control. The blaze has triggered an evacuation alert from the Cariboo Regional District.