Over the past week, conditions across BC have become ideal for wildfires to spread throughout the province and beyond.
During this time, Vancouver Island has seen its first wildfires of the season ignite.
One of these wildfires was discovered on Thursday, May 9th, just outside of Port Renfrew near Fairy Creek.
The BC Wildfire Service says this fire was caused by humans or human activity.
Another wildfire was discovered on Sunday, May 12th just south of Campbell River. This fire is also suspected to have been started by human activity.
These fires on the island are now categorized as under control by the BC Wildfire Service, however, some regions of the province are not so lucky as fires rage in and around some communities.
In the massive expanse that was taken over by the Donnie Creek wildfire in 2023, the largest wildfire in BC’s recorded history, there continues to be blazes popping up from the ashes of last year’s blazes.
In addition to the northeast of BC being overtaken with wildfires once again, there are some wildfires emerging in the province’s interior.
Alberta is also seeing lots of wildfires popping up throughout the Province, including around Fort McMurray, which is currently under evacuation warning.
One fire near Fort McMurray has grown to 5,500 hectares in size and is causing smoky conditions throughout Alberta.
Some of this smoke may begin to make its way into BC and cause poor air quality in some eastern regions of the province this week.
As of this publication, BC has 137 active wildfires and Alberta has just 45.
This is just the beginning of the wildfire season and with much of BC and Alberta having experienced drought conditions in recent months, the risk of wildfires will remain high all summer long.
