Temperatures are about five to eight degrees above normal for this time of year, and there’s been little to no rain in several parts of B.C. in weeks.
Seemingly endless summer conditions in British Columbia have prompted a warning that this year’s “very unique fire season” in the province is not yet over.
“We are starting to switch the status of a lot of our fires to ‘being held’ or ‘under control,’ but there still is fire activity on the landscape,” McLoughlin said in an interview. “I would suggest, while we are maintaining this hot, dry, precipitation-free period, fire season is by no means over yet.”
He said between 10 and 20 millimetres of rain across B.C. over a one- or two-day period would likely be needed for the service to consider fire season over. This comes as the Forests Ministry warns about drought conditions in parts of the province. Vancouver Island, the inner south coast and the northeast corner of the province reached the second-most severe level of drought on the five-point rating scale.