Rain over the past day has taken some of the bite out of central Interior wildfires, allowing the BC Wildfire Service to get a better handle on efforts to dowse those flames.
In Prince George, an evening thundershower Monday brought much-needed rain to the drought-stricken region.
The heavy downpour led into steady rain overnight for what was the longest-lasting rain incident in the past two months, helping wildfire crews make progress fighting several out-of-control fires west of Prince George.
Davin Richmond, a BC Wildfire fire information officer, said that between 10 p.m. Monday and 10 a.m. today, Bear Lake received 20 millimetres of rain, Moose Lake got 15.5 mm, Hixon received 21-24 mm, 17.5 mm fell in the Kluskus region and both Mackenzie and Vanderhoof received 10 mm. But there was no precipitation in Chetwynd or Dawson Creek, although those areas are going to get some rain today.
Richmond said the rain allowed initial attack crews to get to small fires and extinguish them but it’s not nearly enough to control the larger fires. He said they will likely continue to burn into the fall.
“We’ve had four new fires in the last 24 hours and we’ve been able to put out 13 fires in the last 24 hours, so the rain is helping us,” said Richmond.
Rain this and last week has helped lessen the fire risk and most of the area in and around Prince George is now considered in the low danger range, a considerable change from a week ago, when the fire risk for much of the region was extreme.
More rain is expected today throughout the central Interior and northeast B.C., where it is badly needed to help dowse the Donnie Creek wildfire north of Fort St. John. That 583,00-hectare fire, which started May 12, is the largest in Canadian history.
