BC Wildfire Service

Escalating wildfires and worsening drought across British Columbia signal challenging times ahead, with the province and nation facing the worst fire season in 100 years, said Premier David Eby.

British Columbia's independent forests watchdog is calling for the provincial government to make critical changes to how it manages forests to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires.

Mark Healey, an incident commander with the BC Wildfire Service, says he took a 2 1/2 hour flight over the southern flank of the enormous Donnie Creek fire in northeastern British Columbia.

The fire, which is burning south of Fort Nelson in northeastern B.C., is now estimated at more than 5,343 square kilometres in size.

“This is at least the third year where I've had to wear a respirator,” says Sayward, B.C., resident Shannon Briggs, whose children are growing up in the age of apocalyptic wildfires.

The BC Wildfire Service says the Donnie Creek wildfire has grown into one of the largest blazes over the last century in the province.

Air quality statements continue to blanket much of British Columbia and the Prairie provinces as scores of wildfires rage.

Wildfires have prompted the City of Fort St. John, B.C., to tell all of its roughly 21,000 residents to get ready to leave on short notice, while the Peace River Regional District has issued an evacuation order for a large rural area to the north.

Rain and cooler temperatures in northeastern British Columbia will help suppression efforts for two out-of-control wildfires, but high temperatures forecast for later this week may pose a new threat, says a BC Wildfire Service spokesman.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has upheld more than $343,000 in cost-recovery fines that were handed to a forestry company for starting a wildfire in 2016. 

Residents of the British Columbia community of Olalla are now allowed to return home after being forced out by a threatening wildfire last week.

Provincial fire bans and restrictions are also in place across southern Alberta, including in the city of Lethbridge's river valley and in the town of Three Hills due to limited water supply.

British Columbia is expected to experience sustained wildfire activity in August and September, especially in southern regions, with a long-range forecast of hot-dry weather.

Snow-making machines from a British Columbia mountain resort are being used for the first time in the province to fight wildfires, the BC Wildfire Service said on Tuesday, August 2, 2022.

A growing wildfire in British Columbia’s Okanagan area, about 21 kilometres southwest of Penticton, has prompted evacuation orders for hundreds of properties in the area.