Map shows historical comparison of B.C. wildfire seasons

KAMLOOPS – A local company has put together a map to visualize the devastating impacts of this year's wildfire season compared to years prior.

Lightship Works, based out of Kamloops, has developed a map with different layers, detailing the impacts of the 2017 wildfire season in comparison to other major wildfire seasons like 1958, 1922, and 2003.

So far more than one-million hectares has been scorched in the province, compared to more than 861,000 hectares in 1958, the previous record year for the amount of land burned.

The map shows the large sections that have been burned in the Interior this wildfire season, one of the most notable blazes being the Elephant Hill fire near Ashcroft and the Plateau fire in the Cariboo.

More than 670,000 hectares burned in 1922, and more than 233,000 hectares burned in 2003. In 2003, more than 2,400 fires burned across the province and destroyed dozens of homes. In Barriere alone, 72 homes were lost to wildfire.

Go here to check out the map.


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Ashley Legassic

Ashley was born and raised in B.C., and recently moved to Kamloops from Vancouver. She pursued her diploma in journalism at Langara College and graduated in 2015. She got her start as an overnight writer for the Morning News on Global B.C. After spending a year there, she decided to follow her passion and joined iNFOnews.ca as a reporter covering court, cops and crime in Kamloops. If you have a story you think people should know about, email her at alegassic@infonews.ca.


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