Roughly 83,000 hectares have burned in B.C. wildfires this year

Roughly 83,000 hectares have burned in 633 B.C. wildfires since April 1 and those numbers are expected to grow in the days ahead.

Of these, 56% have been human-caused fires, with an additional 31% being lightning-caused, and the cause of the remaining ones is still undetermined and under investigation, Cliff Chapman, of the BC Wildfire Service said today, June 4.

There are currently 174 fires burning across B.C. today, 81 of which were detected in the past 48 hours, and in the last 24 hours they've detected 37 new fires.

"The fuels and the conditions in the forests remain exceptionally dry exceptionally available to burn," Chapman said.

Lightning is making recent days particularly challenging for firefighters and Chapman said every day there seems to be more.

"The forecast for the next small period of time is that we are expecting to see lightning build again," he said, adding that it's expected to build in the Cariboo area and the Southeast Fire Centre.

"As that lightning tracks through, there is a chance that it will come with local rain, but as we've seen in the last number of days, it will likely not be very measurable, and will not have much of an impact on slowing the potential of new starts," he said.

"Once we get through the weekend, we are seeing a return to somewhat seasonal weather conditions in terms of temperature and relative humidity."

That, he said, should help firefighters in their efforts.

"Hopefully we'll see the diminishing of the lightning building every day," he said.