At 12:30 p.m., the minister will give an update on the state of over 300 fires, most of which are out of control
Over the weekend, hundreds of lightning strikes in many parts of British Columbia almost tripled the number of active wildfires in the province. Most of the fires are in the central and northern parts of the province.
The B.C. Wildfire Service is now aware of more than 300 fires. In the past 24 hours alone, 87 fires have been found, and almost 200 of them are out of control.
Bowinn Ma, the Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness for British Columbia, will talk about the current wildfire and drought conditions in the province on Monday.
Ma is going to talk at 12:30. PT. It will be shown live on our website by CBC News.
The wildfire service is getting ready for tough conditions. Lightning storms are still expected for most of the week, and the central Interior is expected to have heat warnings or temperatures that are above average.
All but two of the 13 “fires of note” are in the Prince George and Northwest fire centers. The wildfire service says that 11 of them have caused at least one evacuation order, but no major communities are in danger.
Rural highways threatene
Some of the fires are threatening rural highways, like Highway 27 south of Fort St. James and Highway 77 north of Fort Nelson. The flames that were first seen last Thursday near the Yukon border now cover 300 square kilometers close to Highway 37, but they aren’t affecting the link to Watson Lake and Whitehorse right now.
Since Sunday, a wildfire in Yukon has grown by about three times its size and is still out of control. It has burned about three square kilometers of bush in the Ibex Valley, which is about 30 kilometers west of Whitehorse and south of the Alaska Highway. Many properties along the route have been told to evacuate.
On Monday, the risk of wildfires was high to very high in all but a few small spots in B.C.
Severe thunderstorm watc
Environment Canada put out a severe thunderstorm watch for the Fort Nelson and Peace River areas. This is the same area that had to be evacuated in July because of big fires.
The weather office said that several daily high temperature records were set in the province on Sunday, including a high of 33 C in Fort Nelson, which was two degrees hotter than the previous record for that northeastern town, which was set 64 years ago.
Forecasters also said that Nakusp, in the southeast of B.C., hit a scorching 37.2 C on Sunday, which was close to the record high set 22 years ago.
Even though there were no daily highs for Yukon, the territory is still under heat warnings from its borders with B.C. and the Northwest Territories to Mayo, which is about 500 km away.
Things might get a little better in B.C. by Tuesday, but Environment Canada said it wouldn’t likely get cooler in the Yukon for a few more days.