Forests Minister Bruce Ralston says it is “clear climate change is arriving faster than predicted” as British Columbia faces storms, wind, lightning and drought as crews battle hundreds of wildfires.

He says thousands of lightning strikes brought by recent summer storms led to the surging number of wildfires, although some relief is expected in the north part of the province where rain and cooler temperatures are forecast.

The BC Wildfire Service says in its report on Wednesday that much of the province is returning to more seasonable temperatures with the exception of the southeast where hot and dry conditions persist, but it notes that Thursday will bring the “coolest temperatures in over a month” across B.C.

There are more than 430 fires burning in the province and 80 per cent of them were started by a series of lightning storms that swept across the province in the last few weeks.

Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma says there are about 550 people under evacuation order and another 5,000 under evacuation alert as of Wednesday.

She says those numbers are currently “manageable” for the province and while that could change very quickly, it is seeing “nowhere near” the number of evacuations it did in 2023.

The BC Wildfire Service is working on containment lines around the Shetland Creek wildfire that has destroyed at least six homes in the southern Interior.

The homes lost were in the Venables Valley, near Spences Bridge, and Colton Davies with the Thompson-Nicola Regional District says they were among 20 buildings destroyed by the nearly 200-square-kilometre fire.

Jeff Walsh, an incident commander with BC Wildfire Service, says crews were using heavy equipment on the mountain slopes above Spences Bridge to prevent the “erratic” blaze from burning downslope toward the community.

The Wildfire Service says today brings cooler and more humid conditions, but winds with gusts up to 40 kilometres an hour are expected this evening.

Acting BC Wildfire Service Executive Director David Greer says the 2024 wildfire season is looking alright, when compared to last year’s record-breaking fire season.

“We got some positive spring weather this year with some seasonal rains, which made a big difference for us, in the case that it gave our crews a chance to reset,” Greer said. “We had the spring rains but it has dried out quickly. But we’ve been able to get on the fires a little faster this year because of that, so that’s the main difference.”

“We’re not out of the season yet so we’ll see what happens, but even the cooling trends coming will again help us have a little bit of a pause, reset, and get ready to go again. So I’m pretty happy with the way things are going so far.”