BC Wildfire Service Crews are hard at work again today responding to the uptick of wildfire activity mostly caused by lightning.
“As of today there are 22 active wildfires burning within the Cariboo region,” says Fire Information Officer Ryan Turcot.
“At this time our crews are responding to them in many cases with support from helicopters and air tankers. Crews are having good initial attack success with most of the wildfires in the region. Little to no growth is being observed.”
Turcot says that 20 members are responding to a wildfire located south of Nazko that is 10 hectares in size and is burning within the existing perimeter of a fire from last year.
He says that an air patrol is currently scanning the region looking for any new potential fires that maybe cropping up.
“Weather conditions are overcast and cooler in the Cariboo today,” says Turcot.
“So the good news is we do expect to see scattered rain which should be of help to our crews, but at the same time we expect to see more lightning as well and strong winds.”
Thursday marks the second day of a severe thunderstorm watch being in effect for the Cariboo including 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, and Quesnel.
“Conditions are favourable for the development of dangerous thunderstorms that may be capable of producing damaging wind gusts and heavy rain,” stated Environment Canada.
“Another day with a moist and unstable air-mass over the BC Interior will trigger widespread thunderstorm activity today. The main thunderstorm threat will be rainfall rates of up to 25 mm in one hour due to the slow motion of the storms. Wind gusts up to 90 km/h are also possible.”