Fifty-one wildfires were burning on Vancouver Island on Wednesday afternoon, many of them resulting from lightning last week.
Coastal Fire Centre information officer Jade Richardson said several of the fires are in the higher reaches of Strathcona Park. They’re among 36 Island fires listed as out-of-control, although not all are being tackled by firefighters because they are in remote or steep areas and are not posing a threat.
Some of the fires are “holdover” fires, Richardson said, meaning they’re the result of lightning causing a spot to smoulder then ignite later when the hot spot is fanned by wind.
The largest fire on Vancouver Island is in the back country at Mount Con Reid in Strathcona Park. Burning since August, the fire is 2,320 hectares, or 23.2 square kilometres.
On the south Island, an out-of control 12-hectare fire is burning in the Cowichan Lake area near Nitinat River, Richardson said. “That is one of the newer ones that we are responding to.”
Three initial-attack crews and some heavy equipment were at the fire Wednesday.
Richardson said recent periods of rain have helped to keep overnight temperatures down, providing longer periods of overnight cooling.
But she said the first substantial rains after a time of drought are not always immediately absorbed in the ground.
“The forest floor will still be extremely dry, so it does take a little bit of time for that moisture and that precipitation to really affect the layers of fuel on the ground.”
Since the fire season began April 1, the Island has seen 166 fires. The total for the entire Coastal Fire Centre, which includes part of B.C.’s coast, is 334.
Most fires early in the season were human-caused, but more and more have been linked to lightning as the summer has progressed.
The forecasts for Victoria, Duncan and Nanaimo call for mainly sunny skies in the next few days with temperatures in the high teens or low 20s, with a chance of at least some rain on Sunday.
Environment Canada meteorologist Gary Dickinson said it doesn’t look as if there will a significant amount of precipitation on the south Island over the next week or so.
He said “a change in the seasons” and fall rain is needed to extinguish wildfires around the province.
