By Doug Collins

This could be a record year for hectares burned in B.C. forests

Aug 3, 2017 | 1:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — We could be about to set records for the most hectares burned in history in B.C.’s Forests.

Chief Fire Information Officer Kevin Skrepnek says there have been 491,000 hectares burned in the forests as of today.

That puts us in second place in terms of the number of hectares burned, surpassing the 483,000 hectares burned in 1961.

In 1958, 855,968 hectares were burned, but while that number seems a ways away, Skrepnek says we still have the entire month of August to go, a month that is typically one of the worst. But he says it’s too early to speculate where things will go.

$204 Million dollars has been spent fighting the blazes so far.

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3800 personnel are currently fighting the fires, and Skrepnek says more help is on its way from Australia and New Zealand. One group from Australia will be here this week, the others from Australia and the team from New Zealand will arrive sometime next week. 

Weather is forecast to continue hot and dry, with little rain in the forecast.

Skrepnek says temperatures may taper off a bit the rest of the week, but there could be some dry lightning, although he says there’s only a small chance of that.