A chance of lightning could potentially bring more wildfires in the province, including on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.
According to BC Wildfire Service, the highest chance of lightning is in Northern B.C., however, there is a risk in the interior and along the coast but less so than in the north.
Fire information officer Erika Berg says this season has been rather dry, and they are anticipating lightning caused fires to start.
“We’re looking at equal risk affecting the interior and Vancouver Island and as always it’s more of a high risk when fuels are really dry and susceptible to ignition,” said Berg. “On Vancouver Island there is that high susceptibility of ignition.”
The potential for more widespread events increases risk for the public, especially in areas with wildland urban interfaces. Berg says they do what they can in the shoulder season, including FireSmart techniques to prepare for the risk.
“We’re asking everyone throughout the province to prepare themselves for that risk,” said Berg.
“Having an emergency plan, having a grab and go bag, being familiar with their regional districts and other local governments in which they fall under. Those will be the ones issuing alerts and orders in the event you are asked to leave an area for the safety of communities as well as the safety of our responders.”
Berg adds you should keep an eye on BC Wildfire’s social media, app and forecasts to stay aware of the wildfire activity around you.
With the wildfire season off to an early and busy start and with lightning now entering the equation, Berg says it highlights the importance of the public doing their part.
“That poses the risk of more widespread activity in other regions of the province which can further stress our personnel and our resource capacity,” said Berg. “We have recently brought on more personnel from both Mexico and the United States to assist us with our current wildfire situation.
“We’ve been managing but as you can imagine it’s really taxing, it’s really tiresome especially for our crews on the ground and our emergency management teams that are doing 14-day deployments and travelling a lot.”
Berg adds; however, smoke does not appear to be a major issue for the coast and southern B.C. but forecasts can be monitored on FireSmoke BC.
