BCWS taking on three new small lightning-caused fires near Clearwater

“We’ll see how the day goes and how crews are able to make progress on them. Given their size and the amount of resources we have on them, we should hopefully make some good progress on them today (Aug. 13),” said Wallace.

Wallace said more spot fires could pop up in the days ahead if more lightning strikes hit the region, but past lightningi strikes can also pose a lingering danger.

“There is a potential for some lightning to come to fruition over the next couple of days, but only a risk, so we’ll see how that plays out,” said Wallace.

There is also a chance for previous lightning strikes to cause problems long after they happen.

“There is a chance for lightning that has occurred already to have caused holdover fires. These are fires that may nor immediately spark, but have been burning deep underground and given the conditions with the heat, it can ignite further above the ground and flare up and become more active,” explained Wallace.

If you see smoke from what you think may be a new fire, Wallace said you should report it to the BCWS, even if you think someone else has already reported it.

“Please continue to report all signs of what you may think are new wildfires to our reporting centre. That can bee through the BC Wildfire app that we have, you could all call our wildfire reporting team in Victoria by calling *5555 on a cell phone or 1 800-663-5555,” said Wallace.

“You can also report fires through the app and you have the ability to attach photos to those fire reports. Those photos are extremely beneficial to our operations team. It helps them size up a fire and determine what resources they may need to send.”

Wallace said preparing for wildfires is important, even if you are not under any evacuation alerts.

“It’s probably a good point to pack and prepare a go-bag and have those ready and available through the rest of the summer” said Wallace.

“You never know what conditions may happen to come over the next few week and just getting prepared when you can is really important.”

You can find more information about that to put into a go-bag on the B.C. Government’s website and keep up to date with any evacuation information through EmergencyInfoBC.

by Elora McCormack

BCWS taking on three new small lightning-caused fires near Clearwater

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