80,000 lightning flashes in B.C. in 3 days

Lightning fuels B.C. wildfires Cooler weather is on the way but lightning strikes remain a concern for future wildfire starts.

Environment Canada has recorded a whopping 80,007 lightning flashes in British Columbia from Sunday through Tuesday, and the count continues on Wednesday for what could be a record-breaking stretch.

Emergency preparedness meteorologist, Armel Castellan, says the agency will need to compare the statics to other active periods in its database and pointed out there is cloud-to-cloud lightning activity and cloud-to-ground, with only the latter able to spark new wildfires.

“It almost doesn’t matter if it's the most number of lightning strikes in a day because if it's falling with rain, it's usually not as impactful,” he pointed out.

While there was a rash of new fires sparked in recent days in landscapes that have seen hot, dry weather for weeks, the lightning strikes came with enough rain that it blunted the impact of the flashes.

Environment and Climate Change Canada closely monitors lightning activity and shares it with government agencies that may be impacted. Typically, B.C. sees an average of 109,000 lightning strikes in July but we’ve already seen 123,000 so far this year, according to Castellan.

BC Wildfire Service to continue lightning protocols

At a briefing with provincial officials, a representative from the BC Wildfire Service told reporters that while he’s “pretty happy with the way things are going so far” they’ll be keeping a close eye on the lightning expected to continue overnight Wednesday, with thunderstorm alerts and watches in effect across B.C.

“We'll send some spotter planes to see if those have actually ignited fires, we'll keep track of them and we'll mark them for crews,” said David Greer. “We'll take GPS coordinates and send crew to see if it did in fact ignite a fire.”

Typically, about half of all wildfires are caused by lightning as opposed to human causes – including everything from industrial activity to campfires to discarded cigarette butts – but as of Wednesday, 312 are blamed on lightning, 23 on humans, and another 53 undetermined.

Province cautiously optimistic

Emergencies Management Minister Bowinn Ma told reporters that the number of British Columbians forced from their homes remains steady at 550, but those on evacuation alert now number 5,000, down from 7,000 the day before.

The minister of forests expressed cautious optimism that the forecast would bring some relief and dampen wildfire activity, both in terms of fire growth and new starts.

“In the days ahead, there's some relief coming to some parts of the province and the heat should lessen and we'll see some much-needed rain in the north,” said Bruce Ralston. “So far, I think we're on track contain and control the wildfires that crop up.”