While cooler weather is giving BC wildfire crews a bit of respite, officials say there could be more fire activity in August because of the warmer, drier conditions expected.

Speaking Thursday morning, Neal McLoughlin, the Superintendent of Predictive Services with the BC Wildfire Service, says to expect above average temperatures and near normal amounts of precipitation in August and early September.

“We were expecting an increase in fire activity going into August and that is in fact what we have seen,” he said. “In the past week, there were about 149 new fire starts and we would expect a similar number of fire starts through the month of August.”

McLoughlin noted the northern parts of the province have seen “significant amounts of rain,” but the southern half will only see smaller, isolated showers in the coming days.

“Elevated fire danger is expected to shift from the north to the south, and we are anticipating a similar number of fire starts through August, as we observed through the later part of July when we have periods of warm weather breaking down and resulting in lightning and gusty wind conditions,” he added.

“We are expecting above average temperatures, near normal precipitation amounts through most of B.C. in August and early September and then a gradual return to seasonal temperatures by October.”

Crews are bracing for some of the larger fires of note in B.C. to grow, but McLoughlin says cooler, wetter weather will help with suppression efforts.

Speaking during the same press conference, B.C. Forests Minister Katrine Conroy says as of 10 a.m. yesterday, Aug. 3, there were 91 active fires in the province, with six fires of note, four in the Kamloops Fire Centre.

“Over the last seven days, we have had 154 new fire starts, nearly three-quarters of which were caused by lightning,” Conroy said. “To date, we’ve had 528 fires which have burned about 22,000 hectares. But just by comparison, at the same time, we had more than 1,300 fires burning and nearly 25 times the hectares had already burned.”

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, the BC Wildfire Dashboard lists 57 active wildfires and 529 total fires in the province.

While the hot dry spell and increased fire activity is typical for late July and early August, the amount of land burned to date is well below the 20-year average of 113,976 hectares.

B.C.’s Public Safety Minister, Mike Farnworth also added that as of 5 p.m. yesterday, there were 326 properties under an evacuation order with another 500 on evacuation alert.

“By comparison, at this time last year, there were almost 4,300 properties on evacuation order and about 21,000 properties on evacuation alert,” Farnworth said, while urging people to be vigilant.

People under an evacuation order are being told to leave their homes and self-register with Emergency Support Services (ESS) online. If that isn’t an option, they’re being directed to Reception Centres to register in person.

As well, Farnworth noted that E-transfer payments are now available for people who are eligible for Emergency Support Services.

‘This means evacuees will have quick access to supports for urgent basic needs such as food and clothing,” Farnworth said. “As part of getting prepared for emergencies, I encourage everyone, especially in areas of risk of wildfire, to pre-register with ESS online by using their BC Services card app to log in.”

You can find the full wildfire seasonal outlook for August here.