Heavy snow, rain could impact upcoming fire season
KAMLOOPS — It’s just starting to feel like spring, but the wildfire season is just around the corner with temperatures slowly rising.
Last summer was the quietest in years, and while predictions for this year aren’t quite in, the heavy snowpack in the region could have an impact on the type of season we have.
An increase in preciptation this year — both rain and snow — has made for green hills around Kamloops. But it’s not at all indicative of the fire season ahead.
“It’s basically too early to know,” said Kamloops Fire Information Officer Max Birkner. “Really the final thing we look at, in terms of being able to predict the fire season, is what type of rain we receive in the late spring, early summer. They’re called the ‘June rains,’ and that’s typically the time we can begin to look into the future and say this might be what the fire season looks like.”