A lightning storm triggered at least 35 new wildfires on northern Vancouver Island over the weekend and officials say that number could grow as temperatures heat up again this week.
Dorthe Jakobsen of the B.C. Wildfire Service said the storm brought welcome moisture, but the accompanying lightning did more harm than good.
“They’re all of concern to us of course,” she said. “A lot of them are very small — just lightning trees — and we’ll get to them and put them out as soon as we can.”
She said the first priority is dealing with any fires near communities, properties or infrastructure.
Firefighters are focused on a blaze in the bluffs above the village of Zeballos. “It’s not threatening or endangering the community at all, but we do want to be on that one,” she said.
In addition, a 10-person crew is battling a 20-hectare fire near the road to Zeballos to make sure people can continue to access the village.
Similarly, 10 firefighters are battling an eight-hectare fire at Head Bay to protect access to the village of Tahsis, Jakobsen said.
Meanwhile, firefighters continue to make progress on the 182-hectare fire in the Nanaimo Lakes area about 13 kilometres southwest of Nanaimo. The wildfire service said the fire is still burning out of control, but is 50 per cent contained on the side facing homes along Nanaimo Lake Road.
The human-caused fire on Arbutus Summit across the inlet from Port Alberni was listed at 26 hectares Monday.
The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District said crews conducted controlled burns and continued to fight the blaze with 30 firefighters, fallers, equipment and helicopters.
Nearby fires at Lacy Lake and North Taylor Arm were both under control, the district said.
Jakobsen urged people to remain vigilant this week as temperatures warm following the lightning activity on the weekend.
“What happens with a lightning storm like that is sometimes they can smolder in the cold temperature and with the precipitation and we won’t see them,” she said.
“But when the warm temperatures return they’ll kick up into a fire. So we’re asking the public to please continue to report any smoke plumes they see.”
People are asked to report fires to 1-800-663-5555 or *5555 on their cellphones.
In addition, Jakobsen reiterated a plea for people to be especially careful in the woods.
“We need to prevent human-caused fires because they divert very precious resources from the naturally occurring wildfires,” she said.
“We’re asking everyone to continue to be very careful out in our beautiful forests and to respect the prohibition on all open fires except in our fog zone.”
Environment Canada issued a special “smoky skies bulletin” for Vancouver Island, alerting people that their health may be affected by wildfire smoke.
