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2018 now B.C.’s worst wildfire season on record

Nearly 1.3 million hectares of forests have burned
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An emergency management company, Safeguard, was deployed to help at the Shovel Lake fire then sent home three days later by BC Wildfire Service. (Photo Black Press)

The current B.C. wildfire season has broken the record again, as the number of hectares burned across the province has exceeded 2017’s total.

According to BC Wildfire Service, 1,298,454 hectares have burned as of Wednesday, overtaking last year’s total of 1,216,053 hectares.

Speaking earlier in the month, chief fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek said this season had started later than the year before, but it took off with force.

The Northwest Fire Centre has the most burned land at 838,873 hectares, with the Coastal Fire Centre in distant second with 162,587.

Crews are battling 534 fires at present. About one-tenth of those are threatening homes and other infrastructure.

The province extended its state of emergency earlier on Wednesday.


@katslepian

katya.slepian@bpdigital.ca

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