BC Wildfire Service urges caution in the backcountry this long weekend

Aug 31, 2018 | 3:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — August may be turning into September this weekend with temperatures dropping to the low- to mid-20s, but the BC Wildfire Service is urging folks headed out into the back country to still exercise caution.

“We just want to remind everyone to still be mindful that our campfire ban is still in place,” says Nicole Bonnett, fire information officer with the Kamloops Fire Centre. “It is something that we do evaluate on a weekly basis but the precipitation and cooler temperatures haven’t been around long enough for it to make a lasting impact.”

She says that means people need to avoid becoming complacent.

“Especially in the southern half of our fire centre. They’re still sitting in a bit of a higher fire danger rating than the northern half because they haven’t seen the same amounts of precipitation that the northern half of the fire centre has seen.”

According to the numbers, the fire threat remains real, with 82 wildfires continuing to burn in the Kamloops Fire Centre alone, including nine fires of note.

In fact, there have been 419 wildfires in the Kamloops Fire Centre since the season started April 1, nearly double the 221 fires that had burned to this point last year.

However last year’s fires had burned over 191,000 hectares of land by this time — aided along by the behemoth Elephant Hill fire — compared to just over 51,700 hectares of burned forest this year.