#7 - British Columbia Forest Fires... Costly and Smoky 

The 2010 fire season across British Columbia was short but expensive. Given the dry winter and early spring, forecasters predicted a busy season. But once the spring rain started, it didn’t stop until the province was well watered. Moving into summer, conditions changed with hot and sunny weather in July drying out forest fuels quickly. Minimal lightning activity kept fire starts down, but the fire threat grew as the month wore on.

Vancouver recorded its second driest July on record, with less than a 1 mm of rain, and campfire bans were in place across about 70 per cent of the province. On July 28 fire danger ratings were at high to extreme when lightning storms hit the central interior. Within four days, the number of fires almost doubled from 600 to 1,100. Fire crews and officials scrambled as fires rapidly consumed valuable forests, forcing evacuations in several locations.

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Photo: Dennis Dudley © Environment Canada 2010.