By Matt Fetinko

Wildfire Preparations

Changes made to how BC Wildfire Service is preparing for, acting on wildfire season

Apr 14, 2020 | 3:50 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — It seems wildfire season is upon us. As of April 13, there have been 37 confirmed wildfires in the province. None in the Prince George or Northwest Fire Centres but the wildfire service has already taken measures to prepare.

“There are two major things we look at in order to prepare ourselves for the wildfire season. The current weather forecast and the situation that is within our fire zone,” explained Gagan Lidhran, Communications Assistant with the Prince George Fire Centre. “The current situation is that there is a very low to low fire danger rating across the Prince George Fire Centre.”

Due to the COVID-19 situation, the BC Wildfire Service will have to do some things differently this year such as having little to none prescribed fires. It could pose unique challenges this summer.

“One of the big reasons we have prescribed fires is fore fire prevention and reducing fire risk in communities. It is something we carefully considered before a decision like that is made,” Jody Lucius, Fire Information Officer, said. “However, given the unique circumstances that we’re facing this year with the COVID-19 pandemic, we felt this was the right decision to make.”

Meanwhile, provincial wildfire bans are set to take effect on Thursday. They include: Category 2 and 3, and resource management open fires; the use of fireworks, sky lanterns, and burn barrels or burn cages. These are coming a bit earlier than usual in part to help with response efforts, but also due to COVID-19.

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“COVID-19, as we all know, is a respiratory illness. So we don’t want additional smoke in the air that would influence how people who are already dealing with an illness might respond,” said Lucius.

The BC Wildfire Service will continue to keep a close eye on the ever-changing COVID-19 situation and adjust how they act on certain situations accordingly.