By Matt Fetinko

Wildfires at a minimum

Wildfires down substantially for norm, trend expected to continue

Aug 2, 2020 | 3:44 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — There have been 45 wildfires confirmed in the Prince George Fire Centre since April, quite a low number when you consider we usually are looking at 200 or more around this time of year. The reason for that is an uncharacteristically wet summer to date. And while we’ve seen more typical summer weather of late, it seems that trend will soon be going back to what we saw for most of the last couple of months.

“The long-range models take us out to about the middle of August,” explained Environment Canada Meteorologist, David Wray. “Every two, two and a half days, we’re looking at another system swinging through the central interior so we’re looking at unsettled weather because of that. It’s fairly unsettled for this time of year.”

Further south, this past weekend saw stormy conditions contribute to a number of fires being started and despite it being outside the PG Fire Centre, it is still something the PG Fire Centre crews are keeping an eye on. “For us, it’s about preparedness and being ready if something happens. But also being ready to deploy resources down south to the areas that do need it because there are about 50 small fires currently burning in the province and only one in our centre at the moment so we are able to share resources if necessary,” said Rachelle Winsor, Fire Information Officer for the PG Fire Centre.

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Looking forward, more unsettled systems are expected to come our way for the North-Central Interior, a good sign in keeping fires at a minimum. To date, roughly 200 hectares have burned in the Prince George Fire Centre, dramatically below the 10-year average of 65,000 hectares for this time of year.