VANCOUVER ISLAND, B.C. – The number of wildfires across Northern Vancouver Island has dropped by 30 since Monday, according to the Coastal Fire Centre.
As of today, there are 17 fires burning north of Gold River, noted Coastal Fire Centre information officer Natasha Broznitsky.
“All of them are under control,” Broznitsky said.
The Pinder Creek fire near Zeballos was called out on Sept. 25 and is no longer considered to be an active fire.
Also near Zeballos, the Gold Valley Main fire is still active but is considered to be under control.
“The fire itself does not cause a risk to public safety,” Broznitsky added.
Fires considered under control are 100 percent contained and at no risk of spreading further.
“Certainly some of the fires that are in Northern Vancouver Island are quite large in size, but again, under control and not expected to grow further,” Broznitsky said.
While a number of fires in the North Island region were called out by officials, a number still remain active.
“How long they remain active depends on how much rain we get, temperatures… those sorts of things,” Broznitsky said.
The existing fires can become a little bit more active, and smokier, with the warmer-than-usual weather and dry conditions that the Northern Vancouver Island has seen this week.
However, rain is in the forecast on Sunday and is expected to continue into early next week.
Since April 1, 2,062 fires have burned through 1,348,903 hectares of forested land in what has been the worst wildfire season on record in B.C.
