Since April 1, 2023, 1,944 wildfires have burned over 1.8 million hectares of land in B.C. There are currently 373 active fires burning across the province.
Existing wildfires in the north exhibited increased fire activity over the weekend. As a result, evacuation alerts were issued by the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality. Fire activity from the Little Blue River (R91162) wildfire, located approximately 40 km south of the Yukon border, resulted in the closure of Highway 37.
There are currently 129 evacuation orders and alerts in place across the province, affecting 22,342 properties under alert and 6,940 under order. For the most up-to-date evacuation information, please connect directly with your local authority or visit EmergencyInfoBC.
There are more than 3,500 personnel directly engaged in wildfire response efforts across the province, including hundreds of out-of-province personnel from Mexico, South Africa and Australia. Over 100 local fire departments are assisting in structure protection efforts across the province.
Weather
Lightning activity began overnight on Vancouver Island and will continue through the day while extending eastwards onto the mainland. Most of these strikes will be dry. Today will be the hottest and driest day of the week, with gusty northwest to westerly winds.
By mid week, some showers and cooler temperatures are expected over southern B.C. Rainfall will begin tomorrow over the Coast Range and Fraser Canyon and gradually track east across the Southern Interior. The amounts and extent of the rainfall remains uncertain.
Meanwhile, fire hazard continues to build across the north. These hot and dry conditions paired with a risk of dry lightning mid week in the northeast corner could result in new wildfire starts.