B.C.’s 2017 wildfires have the potential to flare up this spring: Forest Service

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – The BC Wildfire Service is warning that hotspots left by last year’s massive wildfires in British Columbia’s southern Interior have the potential to flare up as temperatures climb this spring.

The wildfire service says in a release that so-called “overwintering” fires could emerge.

The service says it is monitoring previous wildfire areas because an overwintering fire can occur when a blaze that burned deep underground has continued to smoulder through the winter.

It says given last summer’s drought and the intensity of some of the 2017 wildfires, residual hotspots could flare up with the arrival of warmer and drier weather this spring.

Environment Canada says Kamloops, which was the closest large city to a nearly 2,000 square kilometre wildfire, is expected to see temperatures in the high 20s by the end of this week.

The Cariboo Regional District says it has been advised that last year’s fire season, the worst on record in B.C., also has the potential to increase flood damage because spring runoff can’t be absorbed in fire-ravaged areas.