There are currently 32 ongoing wildfires listed across the Prince George Fire Centre.
The Prince George Fire Centre takes up a huge portion of BC geographically, stretching from the Yukon and Northwest Territory borders down to Cottonwood River and Robson Valley.
It stretches along with the majority of the Alberta border and reaches all the way to the Skeena Mountains in the west.
According to Alex Lane, PG Fire Centre Information Officer there are three wildfires listed as ‘wildfires of note’.
“A wildfire of note is typically a wildfire associated with some sort of evacuation alert or evacuation order,” she explained, “other factors are just like a large fire that could be impacting infrastructure.”
One of the fires of note is near Beatton River, another is North of Buckinghorse River near Pink Mountain (G80997) and another one (G91020) just a little further North from G80997.
According to Lane, the G80997 fire did have an associated evacuation order that was rescinded and is now listed as an evacuation alert.
Meanwhile, the Beatton River Fire is around 4800 hectares, which Lane says is large enough to fall under a ‘fire of note’.
“And G91020 is a little bit close to the highway there so that is what kind of makes those fires of note,” she noted.
All three fires of note are considered ‘out of control’ and are suspected to be caused by lightning.
Highway closures due to wildfires will be updated regularly on the DriveBC website.
When it comes to the City of Prince George, the BC Wildfire Service dashboard lists the closest wildfires as North of Bear Lake, 3 of which are suspected to be caused by lightning, while the cause of the fourth one remains unknown.
Currently, the Northern Capital is still at a high risk of wildfire, and the city has banned the use of campfires and open burning to minimize the risk.
Meanwhile, the Cariboo Fire Centre, which encompasses a much smaller portion of BC is battling increasing numbers of wildfires throughout the region.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
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