PG Fire Centre goes into detail about campfire bans as well as wildfire response

The wildfires in the Prince George Fire Centre have not grown much over the past couple of days, due to the favourable weather and efforts from the BC Wildfire Service.

The PG Fire Centre has 48 active wildfires with 5 of them of note, and most of the wildfires of note are being held.

“Being held is one of the stages of control. So with being held that indicates with the resources that we currently have deployed to that fire, whether it is actual firefighters on the ground, or our unit crews, whether it is aerial support via helicopters or tankers, the heavy equipment we have on-site,” said Sharon Nickel with the PG Fire Centre.

“So with those existing resources there’s been sufficient suppression activities and actions the fire is not likely to spread beyond the existing boundary.”

She adds the boundary would be the contingency guards or burn lines that are created by the BC Wildfire Service.

Forres Mountain, one of the fires of note in the PG Fire Centre, has what is called a modified response.

Nickel explains a modified response means a fire is being monitored and steered to best manage it and benefit from the fire.

She said some fires are monitored only as long as they don’t breach predetermined trigger points.

When it comes to campfire bans, Nickel said it’s a very scientific process.

“When the BC Wildfire Service looks at implementing or rescinding a ban, several factors are taken into consideration. So Wildfire Service looks at the current and forecasted weather, available firefighting resources, and then what we call the Buildup Index (BUI).”

She said the BUI is a scientific way for the BC Wildfire Service to use data from weather stations across the area and adds that the PG Fire Centre has over 50 weather stations to pull data from.

Several factors need to align to meet a certain threshold, and that decides whether or not a campfire ban is implemented and rescinded.

Nickel ended by saying much of the PG Fire Centre is open for campfires, but residents and travellers should still be cautious if they choose to have one, and should still report smoke, fires, or unattended campfires if you see them.