Over 20 per cent of wildfires in B.C. human-caused this year
KAMLOOPS — New numbers from the BC Wildfire Service show the public has played a big role in making this year the second worst wildfire season in provincial history.
Fire Information Officer Ryan Turcot says, since the season began April 1, crews have responded to 2,012 wildfires altogether — 444 of which are believed to be human-caused.
“Which, in essence, were preventable fires that didn’t have to happen,” he says. “So, if you put that into percentages that would be approximately 22 per cent of all the wildfires we responded to this year.”
Though that number may seem high,Turcot says it “isn’t an anomaly compared to past fire seasons,” though he says it’s still a blow to firefighting efforts.