Emergency Management BC and the BC Ministry of Forests have released statistics highlighting the sheer devastation caused by wildfires in the province.
The release outlines the various impacted regions, the amount of destruction, and the number of people attempting to battle the wildfires.
As of Wednesday morning, 295 active wildfires are burning across the province.
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Since April 1, 2021, there have been 1,156 wildfires that have burned 310,509 hectares, and that number continues to rise by the second.
To put that into perspective, one hectare equals about 2.45 football fields.
The Kamloops fire centre has experienced over one-third of that destruction, with 110,043 hectares already burned in the region.
In the Cariboo fire centre, 50,348 hectares have been burned, 799 in Coastal, 25,955 in Northwest, 105,661 in Prince George, and 14,700 in Southeast.
There are currently 3,180 firefighters and other personnel fighting the fires, including 135 out-of-province firefighters. The number also doesn’t include the up to 350 Canadian Armed Forces members the federal government have sent in.
178 helicopters and planes are supporting ground crews.
Elevated winds paired with extremely dry fuels has increased the fire activity and rate of spread on the Octopus Creek wildfire (N51800). #BCWildfire Service crews were forced to pull off the fire because of the significant safety risk posed by aggressive fire activity. pic.twitter.com/wUYV57qx9E
— BC Wildfire Service (@BCGovFireInfo) July 21, 2021
44 evacuation orders are in place, along with 74 evacuation alerts. These numbers are also likely to fluctuate.
It’s important to have a plan in case you must quickly leave your home. Check in on loved ones and your neighbours to make sure they’ve got an evacuation plan in place. #BCWildfire
Learn more here: https://t.co/ILoz5U0B89 pic.twitter.com/iBrzki5Ih4— John Horgan (@jjhorgan) July 21, 2021
Evacuation orders account for 3,078 properties, and alerts account for 16,225 properties.
See the stat sheet here.
You can support the people and communities that wildfires have impacted by going to www.EmergencyInfoBC.ca, and clicking on “recovery and supports.”