With a fire danger rating ranging from “High” to “Extreme” throughout the Prince George Fire Centre, news of a hot and dry long weekend is not good for fire crews.
Of the 21 new fires that broke out Wednesday in the region, Information Officer Jill Kelsh says five of those have been in the Prince George Fire Zone, specifically.
‘The majority of those are all to the west of Prince George, all of them remain in “spot size”,” she says. ‘Basically, they’re being prioritized and crews will work on them [Thursday] accordingly.’
With the long weekend ahead forecasting nothing but sunny skies and highs up to 31 degrees until Tuesday, the risk of thunderstorms is even greater, according to the Wildfire Management Branch.
‘It’s definitely something we’re watching with this prolonged hot, dry weather,’ Kelsh says. ‘Lightning is definitely a concern. What we’re doing is making sure that we are finding the targets quickly, we’ve had a lot of patrols going up, so that we can get crews on them as quick as possible so they don’t grow in size.’
With a danger rating from “high” to “extreme”, Kelsh says a ban is on for open and large burning throughout the Prince George Fire Centre.
‘Anything bigger than a half metre by a half metre,’ she says. ‘If people are burning and they are outside of the city limits, they are not within compliance of our burn restriction, due to the dangers that it poses. Embers especially in this hot, dry weather can start a forest fire outside of the burn area that they have.’
For more information on fire safety, visit BCWildFire.ca, or to report a fire, dial 1-800 663-5555 or *5555 on your cell phone.
(Image courtesy the BC Wildfire Management Branch)
