“Not out of the woods yet,” BC Wildfire Service warns of very dynamic fire situations

ens of thousands of lightning strikes across British Columbia since Wednesday have created “a very dynamic” wildfire situation, with more than half the current fires started since the storms.

Emelie Peacock, an information officer with the BC Wildfire Service, said a week of dry and hot weather combined with lightning led to many new fire starts.

Since Wednesday, more than 35,000 lightning strikes were recorded across the province, Peacock said.

Severe thunderstorm watches remained in place on Friday for a large swatch of the southern Interior and stretching to locations into the northeast. Above-seasonal temperatures, especially in the southern Interior, roasted many parts of the province earlier in the week, Peacock said.

“So, we’ve certainly seen the southern parts of the province really come on board later in the season than we’re used to, but the southern parts of the province are now fully in wildfire season,” she said in an interview Friday.

The lightning storms set off 65 new fires between Thursday and Friday, with some of them burning close to communities in the Interior, in the Fraser Canyon and on the Vancouver Island. There are about 130 active wildfires burning in the province.

While she said the cooling trend and showers “are going to help us out,” the province isn’t “completely out of the woods yet.”

“We will likely see new wildfire starts, what we call holdover lightning fires,” said Peacock, adding the holdover fires usually take several days to become visible.

Residents who were rushed out of their homes by a wildfire near Peachland on Wednesday were allowed to return home.

The Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre said those at 118 properties were allowed to go home on Friday, a day after residents of about 380 homes were allowed to return.

The centre said those in the 118 homes must remain on evacuation alert, although all alerts had been lifted for another 490 properties.

The BC Wildfire Service said the blaze near Peachland has been classified as being held and is no longer out of control.

The Nanaimo Regional District on Vancouver Island declared a state of local emergency because of wildfire burning on the north banks of Cameron Lake, about 60 kilometres from the City of Nanaimo.

Homes on the north side of the lake have been ordered evacuated, while other nearby properties have been put on evacuation alert.

The district said 289 properties were put on evacuation alert, while a few dozen were evacuated Thursday.

Even more were evacuated late at night, as the regional district expanded an evacuation order in the Little Qualicum River Village area.

BC Emergency Alert says a reception centre has been set up in Qualicum Beach, a town 15 kilometres away from Cameron Lake.

More than 40 firefighters and helicopters are working on the fire, and Peacock said Highway 4 is still open and unaffected.

A wildfire south of Lytton, B.C., has been measured at just over 12-square kilometres in size and an evacuation order issued by the Lytton First Nation remains in place because of the blaze.

The wildfire service says the fire is highly visible from Highway 1, and motorists are asked to use extra caution and be aware of their surroundings while passing through.

While a cooling trend was coming for the province over the long weekend, Peacock said thunderstorm activity will continue in the North, and they will likely bring dry lightning.

Peacock said people who want to get out and enjoy the long weekend are encouraged to check wildfire and driving information before they leave, as the wildfire situation is “very dynamic, and road conditions can change very quickly.”

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