Caution urged for campers due to extreme forest fire risk in B.C.

VANCOUVER – Anyone heading into the woods for the B.C. long weekend is being implored to take special care to prevent forest fires because officials expect to have their hands full with the blazes Mother Nature starts.

Fire information officer Kevin Skrepnek says an unstable weather pattern will bring lightning during the weekend and while that may come with some rain, he says it will probably be little more than a spritzing.

That could lead people to be complacent, he says, and that’s exactly what’s not needed right now as a month of dry, warm weather has left the forest tinder dry in the province’s southern parts.

He says the fire danger remains high to extreme in some areas of B.C. and only a sustained period of cooler temperatures and rain will lower the hazard.

Skrepnek says there were over 100 new fires started Thursday, but the vast majority were small and have been contained.

Heavy equipment and helicopters are being used to fight some, but Skrepnek says others are simply being monitored to ensure they don’t blaze out of control because forest fires are a healthy part of the life cycle for many trees species.