Image: BC Wildfire Service map
Wildfires

Nearly two dozen new wildfires spotted as BC continues to burn

Jul 16, 2023 | 6:00 AM

VANCOUVER — New wildfires continue to spark throughout British Columbia amid a persistent drought that’s reached the most severe level in several areas of the province.

As of Sunday morning, the BC Wildfire Service is reporting 378 active wildfires across the province, including 23 new wildfires discovered Saturday alone.

The number of highly visible, threatening or potentially damaging “wildfires of note” has ticked up to 20 and mapping from Emergency Management B-C shows more than 70 wildfire-related evacuation alerts and orders this morning.

A special air quality statement from Environment Canada warns of smoky skies spanning much of eastern B-C from the Yukon boundary to the Kootenays.

The sustained increase in the severity of wildfire seasons in B-C and across Canada has spurred the creation of a new research lab at Simon Fraser University.

Assistant professor Sophie Wilkinson and four students at the Fire and Ecosystems Research Lab are looking at the impacts of wildfire and its behaviour.

Their goal is to develop ecosystem management strategies to mitigate the damage to forests and people from wildfires in a changing climate.

Wilkinson says they’re particularly focused on studying wildfire behaviour in western Canada, where the most severe fires can reduce peatlands’ ability to store carbon and affect the ability of forest ecosystems to recover.

B-C’s drought bulletin meanwhile shows nearly the whole province is experiencing drought, with the Fort Nelson basin in the northeast, the Bulkley basin and all of Vancouver Island classified at the most severe level.