Firefighters in northeast BC struggling with drought conditions

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A firefighter tackling the Kiskatinaw River wildfire. (BCWS) — A firefighter tackling the Kiskatinaw River wildfire south of Dawson Creek. (BCWS)

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Firefighters are having to “really dig deep” to fight fires in the northeast due to drought conditions.

That’s according to Ravi Parmar, the province’s minister of forests, and Taylor Colman, an information officer with the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS), who spoke about firefighting efforts in northeast B.C. during a July 8th press conference.

Colman explained firefighters are experiencing “different hazards” in the northeast B.C. region, and fighting fires burning into the root systems of trees, leading to more complex operations.

“Crews are having to really dig deep to fight the fires in [the northeast] because of the drought and just how susceptible the fuels are to ignition, it’s making it really, really challenging,” Colman said.

“We do have…crews working on the fires in the northeast pre-positioned to respond to any new wildfires that start, and are just staffing up as best we can to respond effectively.”

Parmar stated it was important to continue ensuring quick response times to fires, and work with improved data and tools.

“[BCWS] is certainly taking more steps to be better prepared in our response to wildfires,” Parmar said.

The minister explained the service was utilizing night vision goggles to “better prepare” firefighters and aerial equipment to monitor for fires.

Parmar warned that the Prince George Fire Centre could see 30 per cent of forests and land burned by the end of the wildfire season.

According to the BCWS, 2025 could be the country’s second-worst wildfire season on record, with the centre having tackled 177 wildfires for a total of 680,000 hectares burned as of July 2nd.